Real (A One Direction Fanfiction)
by MaydayParade8127
Summary: "I missed him holding my hand while we walked down the street. His singing to me even when he didn't feel like it. He always did everything to try and make me happy. I wished he was here with me right then. Even if it was just a dream, to be so far away from him was killing me. But to think that it would be all worth waiting was giving me the strength everyday...He was real."
1. Chapter 1

**Tessa's POV**

We finall got here. It took forever, but we made it to our summer house on the coast of Nerja, Spain. That meant a lot of swimming, parties, and relaxation. I could already feel how amazing of a summer this would be.

"Tessa!" Louis, one of my triplet brothers, yelled at me. "There's some people who moved in next door!" As if I could care. Louis and my other triplet, Jesse, knew that I was extremely shy. It's not nearly as bad as it is in New York, where I live. Here, I actuall talk to people and have lots of friends, but I'm always a little shy around new people.

"Louis, you can go meet them if you'd like, but you know how I feel about new people!" I called back, not caring if he went or not. I was still taking in the feeling of the sand between my toes. It was warm and crunched underneath my feet whenever I took a step. The smell of the ocean only served the purpose of the entire beach. It was relaxing. I relished in the feeling, not wanting to give it up.

When their was no reply from Louis I assumed he went over to greet the new neighbours by himself or with Jesse, so I decided to go swimming in our pool. I didn't want to waste my first time in the ocean after having not been in it for three years. Dad had started filling it as soon as we had gotten here, so it should be done by now.

I rushed upstairs, put on one of my multiple swimsuits, and grabbed a book, sunglasses, and a towel before running out to our private pool. When I got out there I heard Louis', Jesse's, and two other guys' voices coming closer to the fence. Within the minute they'd be at the gate and could see me. Louis and Jesse were probably going to show off to the new neighbors. Bragging rights and crap.

Hoping they hadn't -or wouldn't- seen me yet, I dropped my stuff by the pool and cannon-balled into the water, but with my luck, they came in right as I jumped in. I emerged only to hear Jesse saying, "And that is our dear sister displaying her water abilities in order to not have to meet new people. That's our source of entertainment for tonight." He finished using a commentator's voice.

"Hey," I exclaimed, acting all hurt. Okay, I thought to myself, showtime. Whenever I meet new people I pretend to be playing a role so as not to let my shyness take over. It helps a little bit, and once I get comfortable I let the real me shine through. It's one of the things I'd learned here.

All of the boys were laughing at my feigned expression, which caused me to break my character by laughing. "Aww, we're just messing with you, Tessa." Louis, my favorite triplet, says. He then turns to look at the two guys who must be our neighbors. "Guys, this is our triplet, Tessa. Tessa, there are our two neighbors from Ireland, Greg and Niall." He forgot to point out who was who, but I'd find out later.

I waved at them and then realized how awkward of a meeting this was. I was dressed in a string bikini with my arms folded over the edge. It probably looked like I was trying to show off or something. My cheeks started to burn. Luckily, they didn't seem to notice and waved back before walking off with my two brothers. The last thing I heard was from Jesse's mouth, "...better stay away..." I didn't catch it all, but what was that supposed to mean? Was he talking about me? What had I ever done to him? Whatever, Lou can tell me later.

Once I finished swimming, I layed on one of the pool chairs to tan. I was naturally tan, but I just wanted to read. Luckily, I didn't burn easy. It had been one of my greatest advantages when I first came here. Usually, you can tell who tans and who burns. In Nerja, if you were marked as a tanner, you had almost instant popularity no matter who you were. If you were marked as a burner, you had to work a little harder. It was a weird system.

By the looks of our two neighbours, they were both burners. There are few exceptions to the ''rules,'' but the only one who'd care would be the younger one. The older one seemed in his later twenties, so he probably wouldn't care about popularity statuses. The oldest person in our group was twenty-two, and the older boy looked, well, older than that. The younger boy would probably have to work to get popular, if he even wanted to. In my experience, the burners tend to stay to themselves, but who knows? This one seems confident, which could be a good or a bad thing.

I ended up re-reading one of my favourite books, Pride and Prejudice, for a couple hours. A sharp sound knocked me from my reading. It started to get dark and I didn't even notice; the pool lights had already turned on. I looked around for the source of the sound that had startled me. Turns out, it was one of those neighbour boys. Greg or Niall, I'm not sure. It was the younger one, from what I could tell.

"Hey, your brothers told me I could use your pool. Hope it's alright." From what I heard, he had a slight Irish accent. I just nodded my head and waved my hand toward the pool, a slight gesture. "Names Niall by the way." I just stared at him, confused. "Your brother didn't clearly state the difference between me and my brother."

"I'm Tessa." I said nonchalantly. I silently wondered, while he took his shirt off, if my original guess of him being a burner would turn out to be true or not. I'll find out eventually.

I got bored of reading, so I watched Niall swim. I kind of wanted to get in the water, but I think that would've been rather awkward. I stared mindlessly, just watching him swim back and forth through the water. From what I've seen, he looked more relaxed in the water. He seemed to have a pretty chill personality in the first place, but it was like he became the water. It was as if he was a part of the water. It was beautiful, just watching him flow through the water. I don't know him, but he looks pretty good.

"Hey, Tessa! Keep your wandering eyes to yourself!" I was completely thrown back by Jesse's exclamation. Niall turned back to see Jesse sniggering with Louis and my cheeks burned to a light shade of pink. He seemed to connect the dots between Jesse's comment and my cheek inflamation, and his cheeks turned red as well. Damn, I was caught.

"Shut up, Jesse. I was looking at the water trying to decide whether or not to get in." Man, that's a lame excuse. Jesse and Louis didn't even seem to hear my explanation; they were too busy laughing and congratulating each other on how good of one that was. I huffed and started staring at the sky.

Eventually, my triplets went inside and Niall continued swimming. After a couple minutes Niall said something incoherant.

"Pardon?" I asked.

"I said, 'You can come swim if you want.' You told you brothers...and you wanted...couldn't decide..." He trailed off, looking rather uncomfortable at having spoken.

"Oh, um, okay. Thanks," I got up from my pool chair and walked to the edge of the pool. I stuck my feet in and sat on the side before I noticed Niall's wandering eyes. I just let him. I figured it was practically payback for mine. He wasn't being as subtle as I was, though. I cleared my throat and slid in. He turned away and looked embarassed. I came up in the mermaid style with my face turned away from him, so I couldn't see how he reacted.

I just started swimming, allowing the water to cool me off. It felt good to be back in Nerja. My family used to come every summer from the time my brothers and I were six, but we stopped when I turned seventeen beccause of the accident.

Niall and I kept swimming together for a good hour or so. Not neccessarily together, just in the same pool. It was a little awkward at first, but I ignored it. Then, I forgot all of the awkwardness.

"Tessa, it's eleven thirty at night." My dad came out. Oh, great.

"Yeah. I'm just swimming. I'll be in later." I replied, probably with more attitude than needed.

"I don't think you understand, Theresa. I said it is eleven thirty. Your friend needs to go home and you need to go to bed." Woah, first names. Super scary.

"Niall can go home when he wants and I'll go to bed when I want. I am no child."

He just huffed. "Just make sure to turn the pool lights off when you go inside," And with that he walked inside, slamming the door shut behind him.

"I swear, he throws tantrums like a two year-old." Niall laughed at my comment. Did I say that out loud?

"That was intense." I just nodded my head, too trapped in my own thoughts. "Well, I better get home. My mom will be wondering where I am. Thanks for the swim." He started climbing out of the pool and putting his shirt on. I stood there, in the pool, watching as he dried off and put his shirt on. He started to leave. "Bye Theresa." He emphasized my actual name. All I could do was stand there in the water and wave; I was flabbergasted as I watched him hop over the fence, deliberately not using the gate and go out of sight.


	2. Chapter 2

**Tessa's POV**

"THERESA TOMLINSON! You forgot to turn the pool lights off!" My dad yelled at me right as I woke up. "Now I have to drain the entire pool and change the lights? Do you realize how time consuming that is?!" Oh man, I forgot. How could I forget?

I was so distracted by Niall's audacity that I just forgot. "Dad, we've been over this. My name is Tessa White, not that name you said." My dad's face went red with rage at my reply. He yelled something in French that I couldn't understand and left my room. I decided to just leave that to him and got ready.

I was in my regular clothes for summer: shorts, tank top, and converse, since I'll be walking to town. I usually pack a pair of flip flops in my bag; just in case I need them. Then I went down to breakfast.

"Good morning, Tessa," My mom greeted me as soon as I walked into the kitchen.

"Such a good one." I told her, sarcastically. She gave me a look. I sighed, "Fine. Good morning mom." My mom has this thing about us always saying good morning and good night to each other. She says it makes people wake up and go to bed feeling better than they were.

The boys came down rather loudly as I was getting served my pancakes. "BOYS! BOYS!" My mom shouted to get their attention.

"What?!" They shouted back in unison.

"Good morning." Her rueful smile broke through, which caused them to smile as well. My mother's smile could break through a rainy day.

"Good morning, mom." They replied.

"Don't forget about your sister."

"FIne. Good morning, Tessa." Louis, my favourite, said. Jesse just sat down across from me, not saying a word.

"Jesse," my mother said in a warning tone.

He huffed. "Good morning Tessa."

"Good morning to you too, Jesse and Louis." First point of the day goes to me.

While I ate my pancakes my mother asked what I was planning to do today. "Well, I'm going into the town to apply for a job, and then I'll probably be hanging out with Cara and the rest of the group."

"What jobs are you applying for?" She asked me. She looked genuinely interested.

"I'm probably going to apply as a busboy. Or busgirl, whatever you call it. Sort of like a waitress. I'll probably go down to Denarii's. They're usually busy over the summer and need extra help." I told her.

She looked okay with my explanation. "One more thing. Before you go into town, will you take my pie over to our new neighbours? I baked it this morning, but I didn't have time to take it over." I nodded my head and looked calm, but I was freaking out a little bit on the inside. I would probably have to see Niall again. Maybe not. I might see his brother instead.

My mother then turned her investagative questions on my triplets. While my brothers were being attacked by mom, I finished my food and grabbed the pie to take over to Niall's. I called goodbye to my mother and headed out the door.

The town is a twenty-minute walk away, so I decided against taking my bike. First, I went over to our new neighbour's to deliver the pie and my mother's message of warm welcome. I rang the doorbell and patiently waited for someone to answer. There was a car parked in the driveway, so someone was bound to be home.

After a few moments a lady opened the door. She was beautiful. This could be none other than Niall's mother. She had his and Greg's crystal blue eyes. She was startled to find me holding a pie and quickly ushered me in, taking the pie out of my hands.

"Hi, I'm Tessa. Your neighbour." I started out.

"Hello dear. My name is Maura Gallagher. I didn't know we would be having guests or I would have cleaned up a bit." I could tell she had a slight Irish accent as well.

"Oh no, ma'am. It's quite alright. I never announced I was coming."

"Still, I could make a cup of tea, if you'd like." She said.

I reassured her it was quite alright. "I was just on my way into town when my mother baked this pie for you." I conversed with Mrs. Gallagher.

"Oh, really?" She asked. "My son, Niall, was about to head into town as well. He was hoping to apply for a summer job. You wouldn't mind showing him how to get there, would you? It's no problem if not." Her blue eyes looked so hopeful. I nodded my head. Then someone came rushing down the stairs.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. The thing is, Niall was only in boxers. No shirt, no pants, not even socks. He didn't even seem to notice me as he came into the kitchen and started pouring himself some cereal. His mom and I looked at each other with the same exasperated look on our faces. She put a finger to her lips, silently telling me to wait until he noticed. I really liked Niall's mother. When he sat down at the kitchen island to eat his cereal, he finally looked up to see his mother and I silently staring at him with smiles on our faces. He was taken aback. It's not everyday you walk around in just your boxers in front of your mother and a girl you hardly know. Niall was speechless and quickly tried to cover himself with his hands. He turned pink which quickly led to bright red. In the end, he just rushed back upstairs.

Maura and I both burst into laughter. Both of our faces were tinted pink from lack of air because we were laughing for a good while. When we finally stopped my throat hurt so I drank some more tea. I don't know why, but Mrs. Gallagher makes really good tea. It must be some Irish secret or something.

Niall came back down, actually in clothes this time. He was still a little pink, and when he saw me still sitting there, it deepened. He was about to go back to eating his cereal, but it had gotten soggy and gross. "Our lovely neighbour, Tessa, brought over a pie if you'd like that for breakfast instead. There's also some tea in the kettle, if you'd like." Mrs. Gallagher told him when he looked around for something other than soggy cereal to eat. He gave his mother a smile and then cut a big piece of pie and poured a cup of tea. He sat down across from his mother and I, and he started inhaling his food. He barely had any time to breathe.

"Niall!" His mother corrected him. "You act as if I don't feed you."

"You don't feed me stuff this good." He retorted, still chowing down. He didn't even close his mouth while he chewed. It was like watching a wild animal tear something apart with its teeth. All in all, it was disgusting.

"After you finish breakfast, Tessa here will be taking you into town to look for friends and look for a job." His mother told him. He choked a little on his food at that particular comment. This made me feel a little embarrassed. Was there something wrong with me? Something that would make Niall choke on his food at the thought of spending any sort of time with me? Whatever, I'm showing him how to get to the town, not marrying him. He doesn't have to like me. Who cares? I mean, I only just met the guy.

By the time he finished his food, his mother was pushing us out the door together. Literally, pushing. When we were out on the road walking towards the town, Niall's mother started blowing kisses at him. He waved her off, but his cheeks burned again. He did that a lot. I just laughed. Once we left the neighbourhood we walked in silence. Great, a twenty-minute, awkward, silent walk.

"Tessa, I just wanted to say sorry about my mom." Why is he apologizing for his mother? "She was way out of line with her jokes and everything. I'm sorry if she made you feel uncomfortable." More like he's sorry for her making him feel uncomfortable.

"Niall, why are you apologizing for your mother? She's great."

Niall looked at me with a bizarred expression. "You think she's great?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah, what's the big deal? Never had a girl say that about your mom before?"

"More like I've never let a girl meet my mom before. 'Specially before I wake up." He scoffed. That's shocking. He seemed like the kind of guy to have a bunch of girlfriends.

"No offense, but why? You just seem like the kind of guy to have lots of girls just hanging on your every word."

"I never said I didn't get a bunch of girls. I said my mom has never met any of them."


	3. Chapter 3

**Tessa's POV**

"Woah," Niall looked amazed by the sight of the town, while acting like a child. It was an old-fashioned town, but it had many modern aspects. There were no cars or trucks, and people walked and rode their bikes around. The place seemed like it popped out of one of those really old movies. "This place is awesome!" Niall exclaimed.

I just chuckled. I felt the same way when I first came here. I really did. Although, it was actually okay for a six year-old to act like a kid. Not much could be said for others.

"When did you first come here?" Niall asked.

"Well, I've been coming here with my family every summer since I was six. At least, until three years ago. So this is the first time I've been here in three years." Than brought back old, unwanted memories. "My family still came, but I just didn't want to." I explained before he could ask.

Niall looked disbelieving at my incredulous statement. "Why didn't you want to?"

"I don't really want to talk about it." It was a bit abrupt after we had been conversing rather well, for us. Sadly, it caused us to go back to walking in silence, but it didn't really matter since we were practically there. "So if I'm going to help you get a job, what do you like?"

"I love music. I love footballs too, but I already play for a team here. So a job with lots of music would be good." His blue eyes lit up with excitement when he talked about his interests. He looked almost giddy; that's probably as much excitement as I was ever going out of him.

"Great! I know the perfect place." I started to walk toward Sizzlin' Sam's Music Shop. It was the only place in town that sold music and musical instruments.

When we walked in the familiar smell of pine mixed with a dash of smoke hit me. It was the owner, Sam's, favorite room scent. She said it made her feel as if she was in the woods, instead of being stuck in a so-called paradise. I took in a deep breath.

"Would you look who it is? None other than my favorite party girl, the only girl who could best my drinking skills, the wild child herself! Everybody, this is Tessa Gold!" Her voice boomed. The entire store looked at Sam, then at me, before someone started clapping. Which led to everyone else clapping and my cheeks flushing to a deep red. In spite of my burning cheeks, I took a mock bow while sending a rueful smile Sam's way. Soon, everybody went back to their business, but Niall looked at me with a bewildered expression. I shrugged, and then was attacked by a smashing bear hug.

"Tessa! It has been forever! Seriously, where have you been?" Thankfully, she had lost the megaphone.

"I've just been in New York, you know, college stuff." She crushed me with another hug.

"For three years? Girl, you are only nineteen. Please tell me 'college stuff' means tons of hot guys at wild parties." Niall suddenly became very interested in his shoes.

I gave her that look. "You know how it is there, Sam."

She slapped her hand to her forehead. "Aww, stupid me. I forgot." I smiled at her. It honestly felt good to be with one of my old friends.

"Well, I actually came here for a reason." She looked at me as if to say, _uh duh._ "My friend, Niall here, wants a job in the music business, so I immediately thought of you."

Sam turned to Niall. She just seemed to notice Niall for the first time. She drew her eyes down his body slowly and then back up to stare into his eyes. She repeated the process. It was like she was inspecting a piece of meat. He didn't appear to be at all uncomfortable under her scrutiny; it seemed as if he was used to it.

"Can you play?" She asked, looking directly into his eyes.

"I can play guitar and piano." He met her stare directly.

She appraised him. "Fine. You're hired." Niall looked surprised, but then quickly accepted it.

"Really?" I asked, confused. "He got it? Just like that?" I snapped my fingers to emphasize the point.

"Yeah, he's hot. You have got to admit that. Plus, he can play. And if he knows you, he can work with people. He's the total package." Niall smirked at Sam's description of him.

"Hmm, nice. I'm not complaining; takes a lot off my hands." It really does. One job search done, one to go.

"Can you start now?" Sam asked Niall. "All I have to do is get you your polo." When he nodded, she rushed to the back room to get said polo.

"So do you need me to come back after your shift to take you home? Or you can hang out with me and my friends? Whatever you want." I told him.

"I'll hang out with you then, I guess."

"Sure, see you then. If you get off before me, occupy yourself or go down to Denarii's. I'll probably be working there." I left with a wave, and didn't look back once.


	4. Chapter 4

**Tessa's POV**

I walked into Denarii's with an air of confidence. From my past experiences, they hire people who are confident, not cocky. I walked over to the manager, who was sitting behind the counter in a bar stool. That's what most of the managers in Nerja do.

"Hi, you're the manager, right?" I asked her just to make sure.

"Yeah, sweetie. What's up?" She asked while she put her magazine down.

I put my hands on the counter. "I'm Tessa. I'd like a job here." I said, actually putting myself out there.

"Have you worked in waitressing before?" She wondered.

"Yeah, I worked here every summer up until three years ago. So I worked here for three summers." I told her.

"Good, you're hired."

"Really? It's that simple?" I asked quizzically.

"Sure. Your blonde hair and big, blue eyes will be a refresher for this place. You're young and tan. Most of the employees here are pale or brunette. You've got the looks, girl. Hopefully, you'll attract more people." She gestured to my hair and other various places.

Then she went to get my uniform: a white V-neck, black bikini, and a black circle skirt. It was a full-on uniform. We used to just have to wear a polo and a pair of jeans. It was cute, but I didn't know if it would look good on me. I guess they couldn't have gotten where they were unless they did some upgrades. I didn't usually wear skirts; I was already thinking this was a bad idea.

She handed the uniform to me; at least everybody else was wearing the same thing. "Here's your uniform. Your shift is from eleven until four if that's alright." When I nodded she continued. "Which means that you start in thirty minutes." She walked away from me and went back to her magazine.

I put my uniform in my bag, and went to find my group. If they were up by now, they'd most likely be at the boardwalk. I went there first.

"TESSA WHITE! That cannot be you!" I turned around to find the voice. It was none other than Liam, one of my closest friends.

"Liam!" I ran over to him and threw my arms around his neck. I buried my face into the crook of his shoulder and nuzzled, breathing in the familiar scent of Liam.

"Where have you been, Theresa?" He pulled away and held me by the shoulders. I giggled because, for some reason, he is the only one who can call me by my full name.  
"For the last three years? I'll try to name it all. There was school, homework, boring stuff, college visits, and NYU-"

"You got into NYU?" He interrupted me. I nodded my head like a crazy person. I felt so elated. "Wow, that's amazing Tessa!" HE congratulated me by pulling me into another hug. "I'm so proud of you!" He mussed up my hair. I fake-scowled at him.

"Excuse you sir. I have a job in fifteen minutes. I have to look decent, and that won't happen if you mess up my hair."

"Really? You're not in uniform." He noticed.

"Well, you wouldn't wear it all the time either if it were you." I told him. "Speaking of which, I have to get to said-job. You can come with if you want."

He nodded. "Let me just get a couple of people from our group first." He gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek before walking away.

I rushed back to Denarii's and quickly got dressed. The uniform was so…Ech. Not that it looked bad, but it was a little slutty. Like, major slutty. At least I got a free swimsuit out of it. I threw my hair up in a messy bun before walking out to start my shift.

"Lookin' good, sweetie." My manager, whom I still didn't know the name of, winked at me. I blushed at her 'compliment.' I immediately worked on clearing tables, putting dishes into bins and bringing them to the kitchen, fun stuff.

"Wait, _the _Tessa?"

"…Tessa White…"

"…back…"

"…Can't believe…"

"…How hot…"

I heard some of the whispers while I walked around but not all. I could only imagine what people were saying about me. It had been three years, and I was pretty popular when I came here.

"Hun," My manager tapped my shoulder to get my attention. "Go escort people to their table and take their orders. You're pretty, you shouldn't be doing dishes." She walked away-smacking her gum-before I could give an answer. I put my half-filled container of dishes before grabbing a notepad and making my way to the front. My first customers were none other than Liam and part of my group. I rushed to hug them all.

After hugging Liam extremely quickly, I hugged my best friend. "Cara!" She kissed both of my cheeks-she's French-and squeezed me tight.

"Tessa White! Where in the world have you been? You look so grown up! No! You were not supposed to grow up without me!" I laugh/cried along with her.

"Oh my goodness, talk about growing up! Look at yourself! Puberty did you good, girl." I winked at her.

We hugged again before she allowed me to greet everyone else. Lola was first. Or second. First after Cara, I should say. She squealed and squeezed the life out of me. Lola was the polar opposite of Cara, but somehow they made it work. Cara had brown hair and tan skin, she was all natural; Lola dyed her hair vibrant colors like blue and pink, and had pale skin, the opposite of natural. I loved them both dearly, but I always hung out with Cara. I just wasn't as close to Lola as I was to Cara.

After Lola had her fill of me, I was passed along to Sailor. I was never really friends with her, but I still gave the effort. Not much could be said for her. She grimaced and gave me a weak hug. Like, weaker than the hugs that Jesse gives me, and that's saying something. "Oh, Tessa. How much I missed you." Her tone was dripping with sarcasm. I just fake-smiled and hugged her back.

Then, I moved onto, last but not least, one of my other guy friends, Noah. Noah was like everyone's little brother. He was only two years younger than us, so that puts him at seventeen. Not the little fourteen year-old from three years ago; he'd gotten bigger, stronger, and more confident. You could see that all of his awkwardness had disappeared only to be replaced by cockiness.

He pulled me into a hug and gave me a kiss on the cheek before smiling at me. "Tessa, you look radiant." He said, causing me to blush.

I smiled. "Oh, thanks. It's so good to see you again. You're not that little kid anymore, are you?" I ruffled his hair and he laughed. "Well, let me show you guys to your table. Do you guys want a booth or do you want to sit at the bar?"

Liam took the lead. "We'll take a booth, thanks." I smiled at him in response while I led them to their table.

I passed out their menus. "Do you guys know what you want to drink or do you need a few minutes?" I asked.

"We just got the menus. Leave us in peace for a second." Sailor said, rather rudely. Like I said, we were never really friends. Liam and Cara both gave her a look while I just ignored her.

Liam placed his hand on my wrist before I could walk away. "We'll be just a few minutes, Tessa. Thank you." He told me. I nodded my head and walked away to help other customers.

I still heard hushed whispers about me again. I shrugged it off while I led a couple to sit at the bar. After I took their order-they were actually ready _and_ polite-I went back to the group to take theirs. I got their drinks, and left them to it while I helped other customers. While shifting around, I was tapped on the shoulder by Liam and Cara who told me they were leaving. Liam pulled me into a hug and kissed my forehead before telling me to text him. Cara wrapped me in a hug and whispered in my ear. "You better call me later. After your shift. I know where you live." She threatened me. I laughed, and I told her I would. Then they left me to my boring job. _Great,_ I thought. _It's only twelve thirty. I have at least three more hours before Niall gets here. Another three hours of this constant whispering and rumours. _


	5. Chapter 5

**Tessa's POV**

At around three forty-five, Niall came through the door. He went and started walking around, searching. When he peered into the kitchen, I took my chance. I went up behind him and tapped his shoulder. He jumped and flinched before turning around to realize it was just me. He let out his breath and put his hand on his chest.

"Geez, woman, don't scare a dude like that." He said breathlessly.

"Is there something you were doing that you wouldn't want anyone to see?" I questioned him.

He visibly gulped. "No…" He didn't sound very sure of himself.

"I'm just messing with you, Niall. No need to get so freaked out." I told him, but he still tensed when I placed my hand on his bicep. "If you want to sit at the bar, I'll get you a drink. My shift ends in fifteen minutes an then I'll introduce you to some people." When he nodded, I led him over to a stool at the end of the bar and got him a can of coke, figuring it was a safe choice since he didn't say what he wanted. After giving it to him, I finished my shift and changed out of the slutty uniform. Seriously, a _black_ bikini underneath a _white_ v-neck? It's a diner, not a whorehouse.

I kept my bikini on, and after changing back into my shorts and tank top, I went to get Niall and we headed towards the boardwalk. I had texted Cara earlier, and she was meeting us there along with everyone else. I told Niall to look for a tan girl with wavy brown hair, and we spotted her along with everyone else. I grabbed Niall's arm-at which, he tensed, _again_-and practically dragged him in my rush to get to all of my people.

Cara and I met halfway, running, and jumped into each other's arms like they do in all those romantic movies. I bet it was quite entertaining to watch because Niall full-on cackled. Once Cara and I finished our movie meeting, I hugged everyone else, including Sailor who just had to be there, and then I introduced them to Niall.

"Guys, this is my new neighbour, Niall. He's going to be hanging out with us." I told them and then brought Niall forward. "Niall, this is Liam, Cara, Sailor, Lola, and Noah. They're just a couple of my friends here." Niall shook everyone's hands and was very polite, the perfect gentleman. When he shook Sailor's hand there was this predatory look in her eyes that I didn't like very much. He didn't seem to notice though.

While we all started walking towards the beach, Niall struck up a conversation with Liam, so I fell back to talk with Cara. We had texted a bit over the past three years, so we didn't have anything major to talk about.

"You snagged yourself a hot one, you know?" Cara leaned in closer and started talking quietly.

I snorted at her question. "No. I did not _snag_ anyone. He's merely my new neighbour, that's it. His _mom_ asked me to take him into town and introduce him to people."

"Really?" She asked with disbelief written all over her face.

"Seriously." I explained everything that happened this morning to her. She laughed extremely hard when I got to the part about Niall coming downstairs in his boxers and not even noticing I was there, and everybody turned around to look at us. I just shrugged innocently, and then they went back to their various conversations.

I had finished telling her the entire story by the time we got to the beach. It was a secluded place that only we came to. Everyone started to undress when I remembered Niall didn't bring anything to swim in. I turned around only to find him standing there in a pair of swim trunks. When I looked at him quizzically, he mouthed "Liam's." I nodded my head and turned back to undressing myself.

When all of us girls finished we linked hands-I was definitely not holding Sailor's-and ran into the water practically shrieking. When we turned around, the boys were shaking their heads at us. They calmly walked into the water together, but not holding hands. I silently laughed at the mental image. Liam and Noah walked over to Cara and me.

"Tessa, has anyone ever told you that you look positively gorgeous when you are in the water." Noah complimented me. My cheeks flushed as I muttered a thank you. Noah always complemented me for some unknown reason.

Then, Liam came up with a brilliant idea. "Let's play Chicken!" He exclaimed. Lola and Sailor were too busy drooling over Niall to hear, so us four decided to play by ourselves. I was up on Noah's shoulders while Cara was on Liam's.

"You're going down, Mason." I told her.

She met my eyes. "In your dreams, White."

The boys called go, and then it was on. The boys got close together while us girls grabbed onto each other's shoulders and tossed back and forth. It lasted for a couple minutes before the boys started attacking each other with their feet and making it harder for us girls to get the other off. It ended when all of us fell at once. We all just collapsed into laughter. It was hilarious! I didn't even know how it happened.

While we had been playing, Lola, Sailor, and Niall had started watching us. We found them arguing about who won.

"It was totally Liam and Cara! Tessa and Noah fell into the water way before them!" Sailor, no surprise, practically shouted. Sailor would always take the side against me.

"No way! Tessa obviously won! Cara and Liam fell into the water, like, almost a minute before Tessa!" Niall retorted. Wow, exaggeration much. Not that I'm complaining.

Noah suddenly appeared beside me. "Woah, bro. What am I, grilled sardines?" He asked, faking hurt and putting a hand to his chest. Niall just shooed him off and kept arguing with Sailor. Noah turned to me. "You would never have stood a chance without me, right?" The three of us looked at one another. He just got more worried. "I'm the entire reason you stuck it out that long and you know it." Though it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself.

I patted his shoulder affectionately while Liam and Cara looked at each other. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, Noah." I told him, putting pity in my voice.

He was still trying to convince us-and himself-by the time we decided to get out and go get dinner. We started walking back towards the boulevard. This time it was the same groups as when we were at the beach instead of walking to the beach. I guess Lola and Sailor just hadn't had enough Niall time yet.

We talked about how great this summer was going to be. Suddenly, Liam turned to me. "That reminds me! Do you want to come to this party on Saturday? It's this thing I'm throwing for the group and some other people, so feel free to bring Lou and Jesse. You can also bring Niall, too. He probably won't know how to get to my place." I nodded and told him I would definitely be there.

When we finally arrived at the boardwalk, we just had to fight over where to eat. After at least ten minutes of arguing, Liam yelled. "If you all don't stop fighting over this then I am going to find a grocery store and pick up some god-awful sandwiches!" That caused everyone to shut up and we ended up just going to The Diner. It was the place that the majority liked, so Liam took direction. He's like the Dad of our group.

We all sat down and ordered before settling into conversations. The guys started talking about some football game while the girls started talking about outfits for the party on Saturday. I wasn't really interested in either of the conversations, so I just zoned out. I wasn't even thinking. I just could not form a coherent thought.

After a few minutes, someone started snapping their fingers right in front of my nose, and I was broken out of my trance. "And she's brought back to life." I couldn't tell who said it, but someone muttered, "Sadly." So I had a pretty good idea.

"What?" I asked.

"You were zoned out." I fixed a glare upon her like, _uh duh._ "We asked what you were planning on wearing to Liam's party." Cara finished.

"Oh." I thought about it for a moment. "I'll probably go in a tank top and a pair of shorts." Lola and Cara nodded while Sailor looked at me like I had grown a second head or something. They went back to their conversation about dresses, shoes, hair, and makeup. I tried to put forth a little effort, but I didn't make that much of a contribution. I ended up eating my dinner and silently wishing I was one of the guys or a girly-girl. It bites being one of those awkward, in-between weirdoes.

"Tessa, you look so down. A beautiful girl such as you should never look anything but happy, especially when there's an attractive guy trying to talk to her." Noah winked. As always, his silly complements made me blush.

"Ooh, and attractive guy is trying to talk to me? I better stop talking to you then." I joked.

He laughed and mussed up my hair. "The attractive guys is sitting next to you, idiot." He said, still trying to get me to admit it.

I turned towards Cara and then back to him. Oh, he totally walked into this one. "Noah, we have been over this. Cara is an attractive _girl_, not a guy."

He looked downright shocked, but then laughed again. "Nice to know how attractive you think I am."

"Attractive? You?" I pretended to peer closer. "Nah, I don't see it."

"Alright, that's it." He pulled me into his side, and even though we were in a booth, he started tickling me. I'm an extremely ticklish person, and, sadly, almost everyone knows. I started flipping out. It probably looked like I was some freak, a rabid animal. I had absolutely no control over my flailing limbs.

"No! Stop! Stop!" I screeched, out of breath.

He stopped, but then brought his mouth down to my ear. "Admit it, I'm attractive." He breathed huskily, making his voice go down lower than I thought it could. "Say it, or I'll start the tickling again."

I sighed. "Fine. Fine. Noah, you are attractive." He let go of me and I almost dropped to the floor, but he caught me just in time.

"You okay?" He asked, real concern written all over his face.

"Yeah, just a little light- headed." I told him.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault." He looked sad now.

I patted his arm. "Hey, it's okay. I'm just tired. I'm alright."

He looked away and got back into a conversation with Liam and Niall, but he looked over at me every couple of minutes. Probably just to check up on me. Once everyone finished their food, we paid and went outside. Then we said our goodbyes. It was just a bunch of hugs and kisses exchanged, your usual goodbye.

Then it wasn't long before Niall and I were on our walk back to our houses. We were back to our silence from this morning before I just felt this need to talk. "So how do you like Nerja so far?" I asked, trying to make small talk.

"I like it _very_ much, actually. It's perfect here. Everyone is so relaxed. I like your friends, too." He sounded happy, so I guessed he must have been telling the truth.

"Well, now they're your friends, too." He smiled at me in response. I guess that meant the end of our conversation? I didn't really know. We didn't talk at all until we saw our houses being lit up by the street lamps; it had gone dark about an hour ago, while we were eating.

"Thank you, Tessa. For today, I mean." Niall said as we got even closer to our homes.

I shrugged. "It was no problem." We had come up to my driveway by then, and stopped to say goodbye or something. "Do you need me to take you to town tomorrow, or do you wanna go by yourself?" I asked, just making sure.

"I think I can get there on my own, but thanks." He said.

I nodded my head and waved before making my way and walking up the steps to get into my house and get some sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Tessa's POV**

I didn't talk to very many people after Monday, the day we all hung out. During the week, I usually just went to work. I went out for coffee with Liam a couple times, we were just catching up. I also went shopping with Cara, but, sadly, I didn't buy anything. I already had everything I needed, but Cara just had to buy the entire store. Shoes, dresses, makeup, accessories; everything a girly girl wants. Plus, she had the money to buy it all.

Every night I went out to our pool and swam, or tried to, at least. Niall usually came out, too, but we tried not to talk much. Whenever we spoke something really stupid would come out of one of our mouths, or it would just turn out really awkward. Even though, we still made a bit of small talk. It was super lame.

On Friday, the day before the party, he was swimming in our pool and I was in my regular pool chair, and we were actually talking sort-of comfortably. It was just your regular small talk, but it was a big step for us. Not that there is an us or anything, but us as in Niall and I, not Niall _and_ I. Then I remembered about the party tomorrow and Liam asking me if I would give Niall a ride.

"Niall, did Liam tell you about his party tomorrow?" I asked.

"Um, yeah. Why?" He looked rather uncomfortable. What, did he think that I was going to ask him to it? No way in hell was that happening. I hardly know this kid, and every time we talked it turned into an awkward mess up.

"Do you need a ride or anything? Liam asked me to make sure and stuff. We live right next to each other, so it wouldn't be a problem." I tried to reassure him.

He rubbed the back of his neck and ran his fingers through his hair. "Uh, no thanks." He said, surprising me.

"What? Why?" I thought he'd definitely need a ride. Niall hopped out of the pool, and he came to sit next to me on my pool chair.

"I'm extremely grateful and everything, but that girl, Sailor I think her name was, said she'd give me a ride." Wow. She was trying so hard to get in his pants. It would be at least ten miles out of her way to Liam's to pick up Niall. It was so obvious I'm surprised Niall hadn't noticed. Although, he had these groupies and I didn't think he noticed.

I waved it off. "No problem. Just an offer." I told him. He smiled at me and I nodded. Then he patted my shoulder and went back into the water. After watching him swim, the water looked so good I just had to get in. I slid into the pool and the cool water washed over me, feeling delicious and refreshing to my hot skin. Then, I asked the stupidest question ever.

"Niall, did you know that you have these groupies that follow you around?" I asked with a completely Yeah, he had them, but why did I have to ask? Maybe he would think I was being weird, as usual, or he would ignore it and pretend he didn't hear me ask it.

He turned to look at me with a strange expression on his face. "What?" He asked. I bet he just thought I was being weird. What is up with my speech when I'm around him?

"I was just wondering if you knew that you had groupies." I said and tried to sound brave, but it came out as a timid squeak.

He waved his hand at me. "I know what you said. I should probably rephrase my question. Why? That's what I should have said. As in, why did you just ask me that?"

I shrugged. "I was just wondering, I guess." I looked down at my feet. Or what I could see of them through the water. The tips of Niall's ears turned pink when he answered.

"Well, I didn't think of them as _groupies_, but now that you put them that way, I guess they are." Jeez, he sounded like he was having a normal conversation instead of talking about his groupies.

"Oh, um, okay. I was just wondering." _Wow, great excuse!_ I thought to myself sarcastically.

Niall went back to swimming once he realized that I wasn't going to say anything else. I decided to go back to the comfort of my pool chair and replay how badly that conversation went over and over again in my head. Soon afterwards, Niall left with a quick goodbye and a wave. I decided to go in, and take a nap before dinner that would be served in a couple of hours, figuring I deserved it after a hard week's work. Luckily, I didn't have to work on weekends, so all I had to worry about was the party.

I stood in my walk-in closet looking at all my clothes and tried to find something suitable and sensible to wear for tonight. Liam was notorious for throwing fancier parties. Sure, everybody still got wasted, but they did it in a "classier" way, according to Liam. Meaning: there was nicely dressed people getting shit-faced with more expensive alcohol.

After trying on multiple outfits, I chose a fancier black tank top with a layer of grey sheer over it, white short shorts, and black gladiator sandals. It wasn't super fancy, but I'd probably end up taking part of it off anyway. Most girls would take the opportunity to wear skirts and dresses, but not me. I wear dresses once in a blue moon, and skirts even less often. I used to wear them both a lot, but ever since…

My eyes jumped out at the time on the clock. It was seven o'clock, and I had to leave at half past to make it to Liam's by eight. Plus, I still had to do my hair and makeup. I only put on light makeup; a bit of blush, black eyeliner and mascara, and some darker colored lip gloss. My hair was a whole other story. I couldn't decide how to wear it, so I just brushed it out and let it curl naturally at the ends. I was done by seven twenty-five luckily and went downstairs to let my mom and dad know that I probably wouldn't be back until the morning. I could probably just crash at Liam's.

I passed by the living room on my way out the door, and I saw Louis and Jesse playing videogames; Fifa, I think it was. "You guys can still come if you want." I called out to my triplets. Jesse just scoffed while Louis turned to face me. Did I mention that Louis was my favorite?

"No thanks. They're more your friends." He said. I smiled at him then slammed the door behind me on my way out.

I went over to the nicer of our two cars: the black convertible. I wanted to get the red one, but Louis and Jesse threw a hissy fit about how they would not drive a girl car.

I had seen Sailor pick up Niall a couple hours ago, so I didn't need to worry about that. Hmm, I wonder what they had been doing for all of this time. I turned up the radio, put all thoughts out of my head, rolled the top down, and drove. I didn't even care that my hair was probably getting messed up.

I pulled up to Liam's at five minutes past eight. Fashionably late. I rang the doorbell and Liam pulled open the door. "Liam!" I practically jumped into his arms. I always felt so happy around Liam. He was always so happy and positive that it was contagious.

"Tessa, glad you could make it." He said, shutting the door behind me. The place was pretty packed, and music blared all throughout the house. Liam led me through the walkway and into the kitchen where Cara, Lola, and Noah were all talking with beers in their hands. They greeted me with hugs when I reached them.

"Okay, now we have enough to play a game. TRUTH OR DARE!" Liam called out. Oh, great. I wasn't drunk enough, so I would remember this. I crossed my fingers, hoping I wouldn't do anything I'd regret. I grabbed myself a beer, and made my way to the living room. I sat down between Liam and this girl, Rose, I think her name was.

Liam decided to explain the rules, _his _style. "Okay, for all of you newcomers, there are rules. Rule number one, if you don't do a truth or a dare you have to remove an article of clothing and then kiss the person to your left. No moving!" He called out when people tried to switch. I guess, I'd have to kiss this Rose girl. Ha! Not happening. "Rule number two, if you break something, you buy it. Simple as that. Three, dares must not exceed ten minutes. Rule number four, and my personal favorite, if you're not drunk by the end of the party, you will not be invited back." He finished off with a wink, and started the game. He turned to me. "Tessa, truth or dare?" He asked, giving me a sly smile.

I chose dare, as always.

"I dare you to take off your shirt." How did I know that was coming?

Ever since we were sixteen, Liam's first turn he would always tell me to take my shirt off. Yeah, it's a little weird, but it also led to things and it was almost like reminiscing in _good_ old memories. Luckily, I foresaw this and wore one of my best bras: my black lace. A couple of the guys whooped when I pulled my shirt over my head, getting excited that I was the first person to remove clothing. I just shook my head at them and didn't care what they were thinking. I had never said no to a dare and I wasn't about to start now.

I decided to ask Merry, a girl who was about the same age as Noah. When she chose truth, everyone who knew me got an amused look in their eyes. I was well-known for my bluntness and daring when it came time for the "truth." I just wasn't afraid to ask anything. Answering things is an entirely different story.

"Hmm," I pretended to think.

"Oh, come on! We already know you have a sex question ready!" Cara blurted out rather loudly, and caused a few people to laugh. Merry looked nervous and started fidgeting.

"Fine," I gave Cara a fake glare. "Who, Merry, in this circle, turns you on the most?" Liam, along with a couple other people, burst into laughter while Merry turned beet red.

She said something we couldn't understand.

"What?" I prompted.

"Niall," She squeaked out in a high-pitched voice. Everyone's head turned towards Niall, who was sitting almost directly in front of me. I was too busy thinking about how she must be one of Niall's many groupies.

Once everybody settled down, the game continued. There were the usual truths and dares you'd find in any party: Who's your crush? Take a piece of clothing off. Kiss this person. So on, and so forth. There were the occasional skips and someone took something off and then kissed the person to the left. I could tell that Liam would get agitated when someone barely kissed someone or only took something as trivial as a sock off. The rule was put there, so they would actually do it and not skip out. They were making it silly. The kissing was supposed to be like making out, even if it was a person of the same sex. It was supposed to be a punishment, not an option. They were supposed to "put on a show," as Liam used to say.

When Liam was asked who he liked, he turned pale. I totally saw this coming. I haven't even seen him in three years, but I doubt his feelings had changed. I saw his eyes quickly flicker in _the_ direction. It was so quick, I thought I had imagined it at first.

After thinking about it for a second, he took his shirt off. He had it bunched underneath his arms, and he reached behind himself to pull it over his head, showing some of his tattoos that weren't already visible. Then, he turned to me, since I was to his left. I downed the rest of my beer before getting on my knees.

"You are so getting me another beer once we're done." I muttered to him. He just chuckled and shook his head. I crawled over to Liam and put one of my knees by each of his hips to straddle him. I decided to take charge; I lowered myself onto him and brought my lips to his. Meanwhile, I tangled my fingers into his hair. He immediately responded to the heavy make out session I was insinuating. He opened his mouth, allowing my tongue access, and put his hands on my sides, using his fingers to brush against the undersides of my breasts. He tasted like cherry vodka, one of my favorite flavors. I savored the taste of him and pressed against him harder. His hands roamed over my naked stomach while our tongues battled for dominance.

When he started roughly palming and squeezing my breast over my bra, I gasped and allowed his tongue entrance. Now, we were playing dirty. I brought my hands up to his hair and tugged, albeit harder than I might have before. I rolled my hips against his, causing him to grunt, the sound flowing through his mouth and into mine. Then, we were back to the battle, now both of us were playing dirty. Our tongues swirled together, the cherry vodka being sweet and making me want more. He finally gave up once I rolled my hips against him and made more friction than the last time. It caused _him_ to grow. I already knew Liam was big, but he had obviously grown a lot within the past three years. Once my tongue was in his mouth, I roamed around and, finally, pulled back, breaking the heavy kiss.

Both Liam and I were panting; so were most of the rest of the people in the room. I crawled off of Liam's lap and returned to my spot, planning to drink more beer, but my cup was empty. I gave a look to Liam and he went and got me a cup off cherry vodka, the same liquor he so deliciously tasted of, and winked at me once he returned. He was still a little breathless, but that was understandable. I noticed the _very_ prominent bulge in his pants, just begging to be taken care of. He picked at his shorts a couple times; probably trying to create more space for something so big.

Then, Liam spoke what every single person was thinking. "Now _that_ was a kiss. All of you amateurs need to take lessons for the next time. If I see one more kiss that doesn't have any tongue, I will lock you and that person in a closet for twenty minutes and play the sexiest music I can find." You could see Liam's obvious arousal in his eyes. Liam and I had kissed and done _other_ things before, just not in a long while. It was the first time I had a really good kiss in months, and I had to admit, I was a little hot and bothered, too. I felt like if I hadn't pulled away right then, we would have ended up fucking with everyone just watching us. It was even more intense because of the lack of clothing between the two of us. We could both feel the hot skin of the other, just begging to be touched.

I ended up putting my hair in a ponytail, figuring that it was already messed up. The game continued on while I was sipping my cherry vodka; it was meant to be taken in shots, but I was always one to break the rules. Most people were in their underwear by that time. I still had on everything but my shirt. I hadn't done anything since the erotic kiss with Liam, but since a lot of guys were looking at me hungrily I figured that was about to change.

Next, it was this ass, Ricky's, turn. He turned his gaze to me. "Tessa," He said. "Truth or dare?"

Curse him for knowing that I always chose dare. "Dare," I managed to spit out between my clenched teeth.

He licked his lips greedily. "I dare you to get up and dance for the remainder of this song and the next." He said and tried to make his voice go down really low and gravelly. It wasn't the least bit arousing. He had as much sex appeal as a clown. But, hey, maybe some people are into that.

I sighed, but hopped up and started dancing sexily to whatever song was playing; I had no idea what song it was. After about a minute the song changed to "Sex" by The 1975. I started swaying my hips antagonizingly to the beat and roaming my hands up and down my own body. Then, I put my hands in the air and waved them around in a supposedly sexy way, or so I've heard. After a little bit, I blindly grabbed for the person nearest to me, feeling awkward dancing by myself. Luckily, it was Noah.

When I pulled him up, he looked at me with this fire in his eyes. He pulled my back to his front and I started grinding on him, rubbing my bum against him. He grabbed my hips and started pressing me harder against himself to create more friction. The roughness brought back painful memories, but I repressed them, having other things to do at the moment.

Noah leaned down to my ear and took the lobe between his teeth. "God, Tessa. You're so _sexy_." He breathed into my ear huskily. Once I turned around, he started making little bites around my neck and using his tongue to soothe the sting. The lyrics of the song only further intensified the mood in the room. Noah brought his hips to mine and rolled them, as I had done to Liam not that long ago. We started kissing while dancing. He then took his lips from mine and grazed his teeth along my jawline, creating more bites. His teeth found the sweet spot on my collar bones and almost making my knees buckle. He sucked on it, making the pleasure levels in my brain skyrocket into uncharted territory while I brought my hips to his and rolled, causing him to grow against me.

I started roaming my hands on his bare chest, tracing the hardened and defined muscles that weren't there three years ago. His hands returned the favor and dipped onto my hips and reached behind to squeeze my bum. All the while, using his mouth to bite, suck, and kiss me.

Right as we were, literally, about to start tearing the rest of each other's clothes off and fucking or something of the like, the music changed to a new song, and we both stopped. We were breathing heavily, panting almost.

"Nice dancing," Noah commented.

"Thanks, you too." I was panting, so hard. I probably looked like a dog. I gave Noah a hug and a quick peck on the lips, then headed back to my own seat. I sent a glare Ricky's way, as if to say _Satisfy you?_ He just shot a glare back and picked at his shorts where there was a bulge that was increased every moment that he looked at me.

I turned to Liam, who smiled and shot a wink at me. I gave a throaty laugh, and then I turned my attention back towards the game. I already had a plan to get back at Ricky.


	7. Chapter 7

**Tessa's POV**

I woke up having no idea where I was. I was in a big bed, clothed in a too-large tee-shirt that I had never seen before along with what looked to be a pair of male boxers. Thankfully, I still had my underwear on. I looked around at my surroundings and realized I was in a dark blue bedroom. There were a couple of guitars hanging along the wall and a keyboard placed atop the dresser. There was a rack of what must have been a hundred CDs next to the bed I was in. On the other side of the bed, there was a bedside table that held and alarm clock, my phone, and a lamp. There were three doors; I was assuming there were the bathroom, closet, and exit.

I sat up in the bed and removed the covers, exposing myself to the cold along the way. I looked around the floor next to the bed. I shrieked, losing control of myself for a second before slapping a hand to cover my mouth. It was too late. Whoever was on the floor jumped awake, but hit their head on the CD rack and fell back. When I noticed that the person was Niall, I was so shocked I started laughing. He looked up and saw it was me who had screamed, and relaxed against his makeshift bed on the floor. He threw an arm over his eyes, as if to block out the minimal light in the room.

"Good morning to you, too." He said in a grouchy tone. That made my mood change immediately. _He's mad at me? I'm the one who woke up in his bed in what looked to be Niall's own clothes, not him! Wait, was he trying to kidnap and rape me? No, no, no._ I started to hyperventilate. Every breath I took was hard to draw into my lungs. Niall quickly hopped up and jumped on the bed next to me once he noticed my ragged breathing.

"Hey, are you okay?" He looked concerned. "Come on, just breathe. It's okay. Whatever it is, it's okay." He placed his hand on my abdomen. "Just concentrate on feeling your breath right here. Now breathe deeply, in and out." His crystal blue eyes locked with mine, drawing me in and not letting me go. He was the lion and I was the lamb. His hand started moving up and down more smoothly as my breathing got more even. He started to gently rub when it got harder to breathe; he was silently encouraging me.

After a while, my breathing was clear; he removed his hand and our eyes unlocked for the first time since it happened. He moved to sit on the opposite side of the bed as me, and then locked eyes with me again. "Are you going to tell why you just had a panic attack, or am I going to have to guess?" He asked, and his tone was light, so I guessed he wasn't mad. I've only had a panic attack once before, and that was the time…

I shivered at the memories. I didn't want to tell him, so I replied with my own question. "Are you going to tell me why I woke up in your clothes? And in your bed?" I retorted saucily. He realized what the whole situation looked like and went into panic mode. His eyes grew as wide as saucers.

"No, no! It's not like that, really! Nothing happened. At least between us. After the stuff at the party happened-"

I cut him off. "What, _exactly_, happened at the party?" I asked him angrily. "Stuff so bad I couldn't just stay at Liam's? You had to take me home without my knowledge? For all I know, you could be kidnapping me!"

Niall looked taken aback by my anger. "It'd be easier if you told me the last thing you could remember." He said. His tone was calm again.

Flashbacks came through my brain. "I think I remember most of the truth or dare game. I had to take my shirt off, I kissed Liam. I danced with Noah too, I think. I also laughed at something to do with Liam, I believe." I was starting to get annoyed. I hated when I couldn't remember things.

"Well, let me think." I'll let you think faster. "After your dance with Noah, the game continued, but then it got back to you. You chose dare and were dared to go into the closet with Ricky for seven minutes. You were dared by Alex, I think it was. I know he's friends with Ricky, so yeah. The thing is, you were being tied up when you started freaking out.

"You were screaming your head off like someone was trying to kill you." All the blood drained from my face. Niall pretended not to notice and continued. "Ricky said it was fine, and he kept tying you up. Then, Liam told him to stop because you were still screaming and fighting with the parts of you that hadn't been tied up already.

"Liam and Ricky got in a brawl, but they were both drunk so it wasn't hard for Noah and I to break it up." That made me wonder where Sailor was for all of this. I didn't think she would have let her play thing help with anything that went wrong. Sailor was just always so selfish. "Liam, Noah, and I had to work together to untie you because you were fighting so hard. You looked like you were thrashing with all you had. You were almost too much for us three." But not too much for one? That didn't make sense.

"After we untied you, you attached your drunken self to Liam and would not let go. You were bursting into tears all over him, and you were blubbering something about "help," and "tried to," and "again." I have no idea what that meant, but Liam seemed to. He unattached himself from you and handed you over to me while he and Noah went off somewhere.

"You then hooked your arms around my neck and made me carry you around. Thank God you were light. After I put your shirt back on you, you fell asleep on me so I crashed on Liam's couch. Cara and Noah came back in to tell me that someone had spiked the cherry vodka with some drug. Liam had passed out around the same time as you, so Cara gave me your keys to take you home.

"We were taking your car to your house when you threw up all over it. Then, you started to talk about a lot of stuff you probably didn't want me to know." _Oh, God_. My face paled at the thought. "You started crying on me and begging me to not take you home. Something about your dad and killing you, so I brought you here." He finished.

"Your-your mom?" I asked. I was really hoping she hadn't seen me like that.

Niall took in my worried face and reassured me that his mother and brother were out for two nights and three days. They didn't even see him off to the party. Thank goodness for that. I might have died. Wait a minute…

"If your mother didn't dress me, than who did?"

"Niall's face turned bright pink, as usual. "I didn't really know what to do. You were covered in puke, and it didn't look all that comfortable. I left you in your underwear and gave you a sponge bath thing. You kept giggling during it and doing things. I just felt really awkward." Oh, what did I do? "I also cleaned out your hair, brushed it, and put it back up for you." I reached up to feel my hair. Sure enough, it was up, but it was in a French braid. _How did he know how to French braid hair? _

"I didn't know what to dress you in, so I gave you one of my old tee-shirts and a pair of my boxers. My shorts were way too big on you. I hope you don't mind. They're total clean by the way!" He told me once he saw the look that was starting to form on my face.

I suddenly felt kind of woozy, so I leaned against the headboard. Niall moved to sit next to me and put his hand on my forehead. "It looks like you've got a fever. Cara called a couple hours ago and Liam had one, too. It must be a side-effect of the drug." My eyes went to the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was ten in the morning! Thank goodness I didn't have to go to work today. Then I remembered my parents! "My parents!" I hopped out of the bed and searched frantically for my things.

Niall grabbed my pants and pulled me back to his bed. "Shh, calm down! I texted them from your phone saying that you were staying at a friend's house today." I looked at him before reaching for my phone on the bedside table. Sure enough, it was true. Man, this boy thinks of everything. Then, it hit me.

"Wait. You said I told you things. What things? What did I tell you? And be serious!" I added when I saw the mischievous look forming on his face.

"Fine. At first, you started babbling out random facts about yourself. Your favorite colour is blue, how not cool it is to be born on Christmas Eve no matter what anyone says about it, your insecurities, things like that."  
"What insecurities?" I interrupted him.

He sighed. "Well, you started talking about how _dull_ you are. How blue eyes and blonde hair are just on everyone. How you always wish you had something about you that was different than everyone else. You went on and on about how your hair is messed up and always at an awkward length, not to mention how frizzy it is. Don't even get me started on what you said about your period. How you get in these mood swings, are always really sore, and get these really terrible cravings for all things chocolate."

I tuned out whatever he was saying after that part. I thought about it for a second and then double checked on my phone. After that, I just had to interrupt whatever he was saying about my complaints from last night. When I held up my hand for him to stop talking, he looked at me, confused.

"I need to use the bathroom. Like, _use_ the bathroom." I said and gestured toward my lady parts. I think he got what I was saying because his eyes went wide and he went into panic mode again. He got up and started pacing the room as if I were about to die or something.

"Do you like- do you need something?" He asked and looked really uncomfortable.

I glared at him. "Of course I need something, Niall! Do you think I came here with one? You're the one who practically searched me, you should know!" I was getting really angry.

He put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. Sorry, I didn't mean to. I'll go see if my mom has anything. Bathroom is the door on the right." He said in a gentle tone as he left the room; only make me even more mad. _I don't need someone to talk baby to me!_ I was fuming by the time I made it into the bathroom and checked to make sure I was right. As always, I was. _Great, a fever and my period. Could this day get any better?_

If I had been feeling any less sick, I would have taken the time to admire how neat everything was. Not even Liam kept his things so organized. Everything had labels on it!

A knock sounded through the door. "Tess!" Niall called. Him using that name surprised me. Nobody had ever called me that before.

"Yeah."

"My mom had something if you want it." I jumped up and opened the door. He stood there looking embarrassed and held the tampon out. I snatched it from him and shut the door.

Once I was done, I cleaned everything up and washed my hands. Just as I was about to open the door, I felt something start to come up; I rushed back to the toilet and emptied what was left of my stomach into it. Niall probably heard me throwing up and came in. When he saw what was happening he came and sat down next to me. He pulled the hair that had come outback, and then he started rubbing my back.

After at least ten minutes, I was sure I was done and it was all gone. Niall helped me up, and gave me some mouthwash to gargle. I felt like crap, so the mouthwash helped me to feel cleaner. When I was done, Niall practically carried me to his bed-I could barely stand on my own-and tucked me in under the covers because I shivered. Damn this fever.

Niall lay down next to me and started to rub my back again. Suddenly, I felt really lonely. Like, really lonely. I felt like no one cared about me. Everyone's just friends with me because they want something. The feeling brought tears to my eyes. Mixed with the sickness from the fever and the cramps from my fever, I hurt like hell.

I turned on my side and looked up at Niall. He just looked at me. I reached my arms up like a little kid, begging to be cuddled. He understood my silent plea and wrapped his arms around me. He pulled me in closer and turned me on my other side, so we were spooning. He brushed away my tears with his thumb, and then started massaging my stomach and sides with his free hand. It felt amazing.

"Niall," I said in a whisper. I felt like I should be quiet since the room was dark; Niall had these curtains that blocked out most of the light.

"Hmm," He hummed.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier. I just got so angry and-" I was cut off by breaking into tears. Niall continued to rub my stomach and make the pain go away with his magic hands.

"Shh, it's okay. I get it. Now, you need to sleep this fever off. It'll be okay." I listened to his soft breathing, and soon found myself drifting into the world of dreams.

When I woke up, it took me a full minute to realize where I was. It all came rushing back to me. The party, waking up, the fever, and my period; I felt this pressure on my stomach crossing over my side. I looked down only to find that the pressure was Niall's arm. His arm was loosely draped over me. I carefully switched onto my other side, so I was facing him, and tried not to wake him up. I guessed he had fallen asleep next to me instead of on his makeshift bed.

Niall looked so peaceful when he slept. There was still a bit of his eyes you could see. There was a hint of blue mixed with white. I could feel his breath waving over my face as he slept. It was warm and smelled of mint. I just watched him sleep for a couple minutes. I started to feel so safe, warm, and tired that I snuggled into his chest. His bare chest; _wait, when did that happen?_

He stirred, and I immediately stopped my movement even though my forehead and the upper part of my face were snuggled into his naked chest. Niall woke up and looked down at me, so I pretended to be asleep. He started to move slowly and got into a more comfortable position on his back. When I moved closer to his side, still pretending to be asleep, he gently grabbed my torso and placed most of it onto his chest. I could almost feel his chin on the top of my head. I "subconsciously" nuzzled into his chest, embracing the warmth of his skin.

Then, I started to feel the pain of the cramps again. Maybe it wasn't the cramps; I _did_ have a fever. I softly moaned and tried to make it look like I was asleep. Niall noticed my pain and sat up a little bit.

"Tess," he whispered and gently shook me. "Tess, Tessa, come on, you got to wake up."

I moaned and opened my eyes in the slightest way possible. I lifted myself onto my elbows, still lying on his chest. I looked up at him drowsily, probably looking like a mess. He laughed at the look on my face.

"No need to look so grouchy. You're like a cat who was just woken up from its daily nap." He joked.

"Meow," I replied and sounded nothing like a cat. I then laid down back down on his hardened chest and closed my eyes because, in all honesty, I was in pain and all I wanted to do was sleep it off. Niall moved his hands and started to massage my back; it was really relaxing. Niall seemed to understand when I was in pain and used his magical hands to take away the pain. I sighed into him, and he chuckled.

"Tessa, I'm serious though. You've got to eat something. And to do that, you need to wake up." I groaned when he stopped rubbing my back. "Come on, if you wake up, I'll make you brownies."

My stomach started to rumble at the mention of food. Curse my intense love for food and chocolate.

"Fine." I mumbled.

"How about I cook the brownies, and you work on waking up?" He offered. When I nodded, he slipped out from under me, taking the warmth with him. When I groaned at him for exposing me to the cold air, all he did was chuckle at my grumpiness. He then left the room, leaving it to me to battle the cold by myself.

It took me ten minutes, but I finally mustered up enough courage to fight the terrible cold of his bedroom. It was more like mustering up enough courage to run for the sweatshirt he left next to the piano on the dresser. I took my chances and darted out from under the blankets. I shivered in the cold before being able to pull the hoodie over my head. I basked in the warmth before heading downstairs, where I could smell the brownies cooking.

Niall, still shirtless, stood leaning against the counter and smiled at me when I came in. I just gave him a glare for making me walk all the way down here, and sat down at the table. There, I curled up in a ball as best I could while in a chair.

After a few minutes, the timer binged and the brownies were done, and Niall pulled them out of the oven. He waited for them cool and then cut them out. He put them on a plate and gestured for me to follow him. I did as he asked, but I grumbled all along the way.

He led me downstairs into what must have been his man cave or something. There was a big TV, two couches, a little table, a lot of gaming systems and games, two large speakers, and more musical instruments, mainly guitars. _Jeez, how many guitars did this boy need?_ He set the plate of heavenly smelling brownies on the table and sat down on one of the couches. He patted the spot next to him, gesturing for me to sit next to him. Once I had sat down, he wrapped a blanket around the two of us.

We transitioned into a position where he was leaning on the arm of the couch and I was laying my head on his lap. He brought the brownies to me, and it was like I was putty in his hands. Right then, I would have done anything he asked me to do. He was the first person in a really long time to ever make me feel so good. I didn't really know him, and he was making me feel so special. When I tried my first bite of the brownie, my jaw nearly dropped. They were Heaven on a plate, literally. It shouldn't have been allowed for food to taste that good. Not that I'm complaining.

Niall noticed my reaction and smirked. "You like 'em, huh?" He said smugly.

"Shut up, I'm eating Jesus food right now." He laughed at my words then turned on the TV. He started playing an old rerun of the Secret Life of the American Teenager, probably for me. I had eaten three brownies before Niall stole one from my plate. I turned my head to look at him. Then, I struck up a conversation.

"Hey, Niall, Why are you doing this? Not that I don't appreciate it, it's just I barely know you and stuff." I said uncomfortably.

He looked taken aback by my question. "Well, I guess, I'd just want someone to do it if it was for me. Also, I feel like I kinda already know you. I know a lot of things from what you told me in the car, and then you talk in your sleep sometimes, too." He blushed when he said that, but not nearly as bad as me. I didn't know I talked in my sleep.

"Well, I don't know you. Like, I know next to nothing. I'm letting you take care of me, but I feel uncomfortable. I don't know the first thing about you." I told him, letting him know the real issue.

"Then, _get_ to know me. Ask me anything." He said, completely serious. "We can be the best of friends!" He added in a high-pitched, childish voice. I laughed, but then sat up so I could get to know him.

"Okay, what's your favorite colour?"

"Green, but I also like blue."

"One interesting fact."

"I'm left handed, but I play guitar with my right."

"Favourite flavor."

"Chocolate."

Then I thought of something. "Why do you call me Tess?"

The tips of his ears turned pink at that question. "While you were spilling your guts to me, figuratively and literally speaking, you said you had always wished that someone would call you that, so I just decided to." I nodded my head at his explanation.

It continued on like this for at least twenty minutes. I just kept asking random things that were off the top of my head. I ended up getting to know a lot about him. It was pretty cool. The best thing was that it didn't get awkward anymore.

Afterwards, we kept watching the show and finishing the delectable brownies. Once we finished the brownies, he started playing with my hair and it felt so good. _Like, how could this get any better?_

I ended up falling asleep again, and I had one of the worst nightmares of my life. When I woke up, I was back in Niall's bed covered in a sheen of sweat. There were dried tear tracks along my face. Niall was in his makeshift bed on the floor. I checked the time; it was three o'clock in the morning.

I went into the bathroom to wash my face and gargle some mouthwash. I went back into the bed, but every time I closed my eyes, terrible images flooded through my imagination. In the end, I gave up and just called out for Niall.

"Hmm," He hummed.

"Can you come up here?" I asked in a timid voice.

"Yeah, Tessa, what's wrong?" He came and sat on the edge of the bed. I reached my arms out to him, hoping he would take the hint. He understood, as always, and wrapped his arms around me. For the rest of the night, because he was holding me, I didn't have any more nightmares. It's like he fought off the bad dreams for me.


	8. Chapter 8

**Tessa's POV**

Niall and I ended up sleeping until ten in the morning, when my alarm rang out. I jumped out of the bed where I had been sleeping with Niall less than a minute ago. We were _just_ sleeping. Niall got up real slow-like and was still bleary eyed from his slumber. I started pacing his room and worrying about what I was going to do for work. What was I going to wear? Thank God, I always kept my uniform in my locker at Denarii's.

I started to use my fingers to brush through my mussed hair. Niall got fed up with my pacing and anxiety really quick. "Okay, don't get your knickers in a twist. Here's how it's going to go. I washed your shorts, but your tank top wasn't capable of saving. You can wear my hoodie. You use whatever you want in my mum's bathroom and I'll do your hair. I'll make breakfast." Once he was finished we both rushed to get ready.

Niall rushed downstairs to make breakfast, and I grabbed my shorts from his dryer. I took off the tee-shirt he allowed me to use and slipped on my white shorts and pulled his grey hoodie over my head. I went to his mom's bathroom and borrowed a hair tie from her for when Niall would do my hair. I felt really awkward taking anything from her. I went back to Niall's room and ran a brush through my hair to make it easier for Niall. The mad thing was, it had a massive knot at the bottom of the back of my head. It was really hard to reach.

I finally got it and looked at the time. It was ten fifteen. I ran downstairs to Niall already dressed in athletic shorts and his own hoodie. He was watching something cook in the toaster. "Niall, whatcha cooking?" I asked and took a seat at the table. He turned around at the sound of my voice.

"I'm making frozen blueberry waffles," He said then turned around to grab a plate already full of waffles. He placed four onto mine and set the rest on the table. I reached for the syrup and poured it, drowning my breakfast. I dug into my meal whilst Niall waited for the last few waffles to finish toasting. Once they were done, he scarfed them down. Even though he had more than me, he finished before I had even finished my second one.

Since he finished before me, he started on my hair. It was a little difficult whilst I was eating, but he ended up being able to plait it rather well. His quick fingers worked fast and he was done in no time. I finished my breakfast, and then we both went upstairs. He was able to actually brush his teeth, but I was only able to mouthwash. We started to put on our shoes when Niall spoke up.

"Hey, it's only half ten. We might be able to make it on time." He said, making the mood lighter. I laughed at him. He was always so carefree and saw the positive side in everything. We ran out the door.

An idea sprang to my mind. "Hey, why don't we take my car today? It'll be a little out of place, but I think it'll be fine for today." I knew we would be late if we didn't take it, so I hoped he would agree. I can't stand being late.

When he nodded, I got in the driver's seat whilst he got in the passenger's. I put the keys in the ignition and waited for him to put his seatbelt on. Once that was taken care of, we were off down the road.

"I cleaned your car for you by the way." He said, out of the blue. It took me a second before I realized the reason he would be cleaning my car.

"Oh, yeah. Thank you for that. I really appreciate it." I told him and I genuinely meant it. After that, we didn't talk, so I turned on the radio to avoid any awkward silences. There weren't a lot of radio stations that played English music because we were in Spain and everything, so I turned it to a rock station. They were playing "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi, one of my all-time favorites.

"You listen to rock?" Niall, surprised, asked.

I nodded. "Why are you so surprised?" I asked.

"I don't know, you just seem to be one of the girls who listen to the newest and most popular music." He said nonchalantly.

I pretended to be offended. "Me? Listening to _new_ and _popular_ music? Grotty!" I exclaimed. I really did not like the new and popular music. It was the bane of my existence.

Niall laughed at my expense. "No need to be so offended. I was just saying."

We both ended up laughing, but I had to stop after accidently swerving on the road. Luckily, no one else was on the road. I wanted to sing along but after that little mishap, I didn't. Niall took over that role for me instead. The thing is, he was _really_ good. I knew he could play instruments, but I never thought he could sing. His accent seemed to disappear when he sang.

He didn't sing loudly, only loud enough for me to hear. I didn't even think he meant for me to hear, but he was still really good. I didn't comment on it but, on the inside, I was screaming. _How are you and that voice of yours not famous?_

By the time the song was over, we had made it into the town. I decided to drop Niall off first so he wouldn't be late. I pulled up outside Sam's and he opened the door.

"Thanks for the ride."

"Thanks for taking care of sick ol' me." He started to get out of the car. He was halfway to the door of the shoppe before I remembered something. I honked the horn at him. A couple people stared, but that's probably because there weren't many cars in the town. He rushed back and stuck his head over the door handle.

"What's up?" He asked.

"If you need a ride afterwards, you know where to find me." I gave an overly dramatic wink. He laughed, and then turned around to head inside. I drove away to Denarii's laughing.

Today was most definitely a rush day. It was a lot of hard work. I was moving around so much that I didn't even notice when my new "best friend" came in and sat down at the bar.

Still not knowing who it was, I went to take his order. "Hi, what can I get you?" I looked up and was shocked. "Woah, hi Niall. What's up? Can I get you something?"

"Yeah, I'll have a shot of tequila." He ordered with a wink.

"A Coca-Cola is coming right up." As I walked away, I could hear his laughter.

Ever since we became "best friends," things have been a lot of awkwardness. I think it's working for us. I gave him his drink and, thankfully, it was the last of my shift. I went to the locker room and put Niall's sweatshirt and my white shorts back on. Wearing Niall's sweatshirt, you could barely see my shorts. It looked like I wasn't wearing any pants. I threw my hair up in a ponytail since the braid had gotten messed up. It was nowhere as neat as Niall's work, but it worked.

"So what do you wanna do?" Niall asked as soon as I got back from changing.

I shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Whatever you want to do is fine."

He looked at me with puppy dog eyes. "We have to celebrate our friendship! It's our one-day anniversary! You have to be excited!" He whined like the baby he was.

"Woo." I said monotonously. He glared at me, and I sighed. "Woo! Friendship, unicorns, rainbows, and sparkles!" I exclaimed in a preppy-high school-cheerleader voice. He took what he could get.

He grabbed my hand and we skipped out of the diner laughing and looking stupid. Niall didn't seem to care what people thought, so I didn't either. "Wait! Niall where are we going?" I shouted at him.

"Doesn't matter!" It was so spontaneous that I just went for it. We skipped down the boardwalk, and it was so fun. I never even did this as a kid. We went to the edge and jumped off the pier and slowed down to walk in the sand.

At one point, I leaned down to take my sandals off and put them in my right hand since my left was still intertwined with Niall's. We walked in silence, but it was more comfortable than most of our silences. It didn't feel awkward or anything.

Finally, we made it to a stop next to our favorite spot on the beach, the place we went to with Noah, Liam, Cara, Lola, and, last and least, Sailor. It was a secluded spot where no one really went.

Niall took off his hoodie and started to take off his tee-shirt underneath. "Wait, woah! Niall, what are you doing?" I asked surprised.

He took the rest of his shirt off before speaking. "We're going for a swim." He stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"B-but I don't have anything to swim in." I stuttered out.

"Why can't you just swim in your bra and panties? I've seen you in them before. Plus, they're just like a swimsuit." He looked confused.

I gave him an _Are you kidding me?_ look. "Niall, I am not going to swim with you whilst I'm half naked."

He thought about it for a second, and then handed his tee-shirt to me. I took it, but I didn't know what to do with it. "You can wear my shirt while we're swimming." He explained.

"Well, turn around." I gestured. He chuckled to himself and turned around. I took off the sweatshirt and my shorts before slipping on the navy, almost black tee-shirt. It reached the middle of my thighs and was big on me. By the time I turned around to tell Niall it was okay, he was already in the water and splashing around like a little kid. It was nothing but the usual.

As I walked into the ocean, the tee-shirt splayed around me like a dress. While I was walking out, I was hoping Niall wouldn't go under and see anything. I turned around to see how far I had gone out-the water level had risen to my chest- and when I turned back, Niall had disappeared. I twirled and frantically searched around. _Oh crap…_

I felt something brush against the inside of my calf, so I instinctively kicked out my foot. _Damn it, Niall._ He tried to come up, but his face got stuck under the back of my tee-shirt. _I wonder how that happened._ After a little bit of battle that involved multiple shrieks and a couple of shrewd comments, we got him out of my shirt, and we both started laughing. _Seriously, how did that happen?_ Serves him right for trying to see something he wasn't supposed to.

After our laughing fit, we just floated around in the water. "Tessa," Niall called out. We were starting to drift apart over time. Literally not figuratively.

"Yeah," I called back.

"C'mere." He shouted and you could hear his accent more articulately than usual. I started to swim to him-still in his dark tee-shirt-and he met me halfway. By the time I was near him, the water was deep enough to cover me twice, and I couldn't reach the ground. I was a little weary from all the swimming, so I went straight into his arms. He seemed surprised at first, but he quickly caught on and brought me into him.

"Tessa."

"Hmm."

"This whole 'best friend' thing is really working. Don't you think?" He asked rather abruptly. _Where did this come from?_

"Yeah, I'd say so. Being best friends is cool." I said the last part in a kiddie voice. I really did mean it though.

Niall looked lost in thought, and I was starting to get bored. We had been swimming for a while. I swam out of his arms and started to swim towards the beach. Niall was startled by my sudden movement. "I'll race you to shore!" I shouted back at him, leaving him in my dust. Or mist, whatever you wanted to call it; he was behind me. I swam even faster knowing he would be catching up. _Blast boys and their athletic bodies._

"Aah!" I screamed out. Something had suddenly grabbed my leg. I kicked my foot and a man's voice yelled in pain.

"Oi!" Even though I kept kicking, he kept his grip. His hand pulled me back until I was behind him. He swam out in front of me and within a few seconds, he was at least two yards in front of me.

When I got to the beach, Niall was shaking his hair out like a dog. "No fair! You cheated when you pulled me back!" I scolded him whilst I walked out of the ocean.

He scoffed. "I cheated? I was unfair? You started way out ahead of me!"

"It was necessary! You're so much larger than me! I needed a head start!" He laughed at the expression on my face.

"So when do I get my shirt back?" He asked, completely out of the blue.

My expression steeled. "When you turn around and don't peek." He raised his hands in surrender and did as told. I peeled off his wet tee-shirt and pulled on my shorts and hoodie. As I was redoing my ponytail, I called for him that it was okay to turn around. He turned around and held out his hand. I thought he wanted me to take it, so I grabbed it. He looked at me with a bizzared expression and gestured towards the tee-shirt in my other hand. I quickly unlatched my hand from his and placed the tee-shirt in it. I was completely embarrassed and blushed a deep red.

While the tee-shirt fit me swimmingly, it fit right on him. Since it was wet, the shirt clang to his sculpted body. It seemed to articulate his already bulging muscles. In other words, Niall won the wet tee-shirt contest.

It was too hot, so he carried his sweatshirt. When he offered me his other hand, to hold this time, I reached down to grab my sandals and took it. We started to walk back.

"Niall, why did you want to be friends so badly?" I asked him.

He looked surprised but answered anyway. "Well, I dunno really. Your mom makes this really good food. Plus, I couldn't stand the thought of only being friends with two out of three triplets." He joked.

I bumped his shoulder with mine. "Seriously." I laughed. "I wanna know."

"Why'd you agree?" He asked. Damn, answering a question with a question. He was good.

"Fine. You don't have to tell me." He smiled.

We walked back closer to the water, so our feet got wet. The first time the water touched us, Niall jokingly almost pushed me into it. "Niall!" I screamed. With my "quick" reflexes, I latched onto his arm and almost pulled him down with me. Luckily, he had amazing balance and didn't fall, too. He laughed at my misfortune. I hit his arm once I regained my balance. He feigned hurt.

"Oh, shut up Niall." I growled but then laughed.

We went back to our walking, playfully shoving one another and laughing.


	9. Chapter 9

**Tessa's POV**

I woke up to the smell of chocolate chip pancakes. Was my mother actually making them? I had been begging her to make them for weeks! I rushed out of my bed, even though I was still in my pyjamas. They weren't that bad, just a white tank top and black spandex. Plus, it's just my family.

When I got downstairs to the kitchen, someone wolf-whistled. I was surprised to find a lot of lads eating my chocolate chip pancakes. I suddenly remembered that it was Wednesday, and the football team breakfast is always held on Wednesday. This week we were holding it, and I completely forgot about it. I felt really awkward and embarrassed, just the usual. I looked around for a familiar face that wasn't giving me death glares or leering looks. Near the end of the table, my gaze settled on Niall. He conveniently had an open spot next to him.

I quickly grabbed two pancakes and made my way to sit next to him. Everyone's eyes finally stopped watching me, and they all went back to eating and talking (at the same time, gross!) and doing whatever it is that boys do. My mother was still near the stove making dozens of pancakes, but she had headphones in to ignore the noise from the team.

Niall leaned down to talk to me so he could be heard over the boisterous team making a racket. "Nice pyjamas." He commented with a quick wink.

"Shut up!" I shoved him.

He put his hands up in surrender. "Just saying what everyone is thinking." I just glared at him and went back to enjoying my pancakes as best I could in a room bursting with testosterone-filled males.

I noticed Jesse glaring at me. "Sorry," I mouthed to him. "I forgot." He just narrowed his eyes and went back to talking to whoever was trying to get his attention. I looked around for Louis just to make sure he wasn't upset with me, too. I caught his eye and looked at him questioningly. He smiled and nodded. Then, he went back to speaking with his friends. I was glad at least one of my triplets wasn't mad at me.

I looked down at my plate and noticed I had only a half of a pancake left. It made me sad. I looked over at Niall's plate, and he had four left. When he noticed my staring, his eyes widened. "No. No way in Hell." He told me and shook his head to emphasize his point.

"Please?" I gave him my puppy-dog eyes. He shook his head but hesitated at first. "Pwetty pwease?" I changed my lettering to sound more like a little kid. I nuzzled his shoulder with my head, then I pressed my lips to it, knowing he would get uncomfortable.

When he tensed, I knew I had won. "Fine." He sighed.

"Yay!" I clapped my hands together once the single pancake was placed on my plate.

Immediately, the entire room got quiet and stared. Almost as instantaneously, the noise got really loud. Everyone started talking at once, and I only got a few bits.

"…Just happened…"

"…She's hot…"

"…Niall never shares…"

Niall and I turned to look at one another. Louis got everyone quiet.

"I see what's going on here, but I don't understand. What just happened?" He then put on the theatrics. "Is Niall cheating on me with my own sister?" He gasped and then collapsed into fake tears.

"Did we do something wrong? And how would Niall have been cheating with me? He just gave me a pancake. What's the big deal?" I asked. I didn't even know what was going on before Louis accused me of cheating. By the looks of it, Niall didn't either. Everyone was staring back and forth between Niall and I. It was as if they were trying to see something tangible between us.

"Niall just gave you a pancake. Not just a pancake either, one of mum's pancaked. Niall _never_ shares food." Jesse clarified, giving Niall a warning look.

"He's my best friend." I shrugged innocently.

Louis got up from his chair, came over to Niall and I, and wrapped his arms around Niall's neck. "He was mine first." He childishly growled. Most everyone laughed because they knew Louis well.

Niall tried to untangle himself from my brother, but Louis held on tight. "Woah bro, back off my best friend." I said, removing Louis's arms from Niall's neck and replacing them with my own. I leaned up to press a kiss on his cheek, something Louis couldn't top. Niall looked thoroughly shocked.

Before Lou could retaliate, Jesse spoke up. "I know we all want a piece of some Niall, but I'd rather not spit up what I just ate." Louis and I both fixated our glares on him instead of each other whilst Niall looked really uncomfortable.

"You're just jealous because I'm in love with someone else." Louis rubbed it in his face.

"Oh, you caught me." Jesse said sarcastically. At that, all of the football team laughed and went back to their food. They all finished rather quickly and stood up to throw their paper plates in the rubbish bin. **(AN: Rubbish bin=Trash can in America :D)** They all walked outside, including Louis and Jesse. Some went on the patio and the rest went in the pool. I could only hope that went alright and I wouldn't have to clean up puke later. Niall decided to stay in here with me for the time being. I noticed that my mother had left the room during the whole fiasco.

Once everyone had left the room, I scooted my chair, so I was able to prop my legs across Niall's lap. I wasn't very concerned with Niall seeing me in such little clothes; Niall was just my best friend. At least I had some clothes on with him, but with the rest of those lads it was a completely different story. I always made sure to bundle up when they were around. Whenever I used to go to my triplets' football practices, all the team would do is ogle me and make lewd comments. It was very annoying for my brothers.

"So what're we gonna do today?" Niall asked. We had been hanging out every day since we became "best friends." Which means we had spent the past two days doing stuff. Monday, we went swimming in our special place; yesterday, I had gone to his soccer practice and we went to dinner along with Louis and Jesse afterwards. We didn't necessarily spend the entire day together, just a couple of hours or so to "strengthen our bond," as Niall put it.

I thought about his question for a minute. "I dunno. Unlike somebody I know, I have work in two hours."

He pouted. "But I won't be here this evening." He jutted his bottom lip out, to keep up with the theatrics.

I immediately got suspicious. I didn't really care what he was doing, just why he wasn't doing it with me. "What are you doing this evening?" I questioned. He shifted his weight mainly onto his right side, disturbing my foot rest.

He muttered something I couldn't understand. "Niall, I am completely sure we have been over this at least a hundred times. You need to speak clearly, so people can understand you." I teased him, trying to put some humour into the situation. _It couldn't be that bad, right?_

"I kinda have a date tonight." He stuttered. He ran his fingers through his hair and scratched the back of his neck.

_I guess I was right. Or should I say wrong?_ I didn't know how to respond. That was the last thing I was expecting him to say. I wasn't even expecting him to say that. I had been hanging out with him all week, so when would he have had enough time to plan a date.

"Oh, cool, I guess."

"Yeah. I didn't really know how to tell you." He said. _Well, you kinda just did._

"Who?" Not that it mattered, I was just curious.

His cheeks burned at my question. I guessed we still hadn't gotten passed our embarrassment phase. It's with that Sailor girl, the one who took me to the party. On Saturday, she asked me to dinner and a movie so I agreed. It's not a big deal or anything."

_It just had to be Sailor. Stupid Niall had to agree to go on another date with that fucking tramp. He could get practically any girl in this entire town, but he chooses to go with the main bitch. Can't he see that all she wants is to get into his pants? She's a bloody whore. How can no one else see it?_

I acted like it didn't bother me. "Sweet." I had no idea if I was supposed to say that. I was so confused.

Before this could get any more awkward, Louis clamored through the doorway, make a whole bunch of noise. "Niall! Stop cheating on me with my own sister! Now get out here and join your team!" Louis yelled at him, faking tears again. We were saved by Louis, thank you Allah.

Niall rubbed my legs, making me grateful I had shaved, and removed them from his lap. He got up and left with a wave, leaving me alone in a messy kitchen. I threw away Niall's and I's plates first. Since the team had cleaned theirs already, I started with cleaning up the grill.

Once I had finished, I ran upstairs to get showered and get ready for work in less than an hour and a half.

It was half four when I left Denarii's. I almost went straight to Niall's, but I remembered he had a date with a whore tonight. I decided to call Liam instead, but I didn't get an answer. The same thing happened when I tried to call Cara, too. I sat down on a bench to scroll through my contacts. I decided to call Noah. Almost everyone was back home in England or in New York.

He picked up on the fourth ring. "This is Noah." He said, letting me know that he didn't check the caller ID before answering. I decided to have a little fun with it.

"Noah Grey, where are you? You were supposed to be home over an hour ago!" I fake-yelled in my best impression of his mother's voice. There was a pause and then a crash, which I assumed to be him dropping his phone. There was a scuffling sound and then I heard chuckling. Why was he chuckling?

"Hey, Tessa." He laughed.

My mouth dropped open. "How'd you know it was me?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Your impression of my mother sucked." He shocked me. I thought I was pretty good.

"What?" I exclaimed.

"Yep. Also, there is this new feature on phones where you can see who you're talking to while you're talking to them. It's wicked!" I could hear the sarcasm dripping in his voice. "Plus, Theresa-"

"Tessa." I corrected.

"Tessa, my parents won't be here until the end of summer."

My mouth fell open again. "So my impression was good. No need to be so rude, you jerk."

"Hey," He said, sounding hurt. "So what did you want?"

I suddenly remembered why I had called in the first place. "Oh, right. I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out sometime."

"Like when?" He asked in a weird tone.

"Like now." I mimicked him.

I could hear him smile. "Sure. I just finished working out-"

"TMI bro."

"-so I need to shower. Meet me at the café in twenty?" I nodded but he couldn't see it.

"Yeah, sure. See you then."

"Laters babe." He said as he hung up. That was awkward.

I got up from my seat on the bench and started to walk in the direction of the café. There was no harm in getting there early. I was walking on the sidewalk when I thought I heard someone calling my name. I was pretty sure I was imagining things, so I brushed it off.

"Tessa!" I definitely heard that. I turned my head and saw someone lightly jogging my way. When they got closer to me, I was able to tell who it was.

"Zayn!" I shouted as I jumped into him, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist.

"Tessa, I thought it was you." He breathed into my hair, still a little breathless from his jog. I let go of him and he set me on the ground. I took a second to just admire him. He was wearing the same attire I had always seen him in: tee-shirt, leather jacket, and skinny jeans so tight they took my breath away. He had gotten even more attractive since the last time I had seen him. He pulled me into an actual hug this time and kissed my cheek as he pulled away.

"Wow, Zayn. It's been a while."

He chuckled. "It's been way too long. I can't do the things I do with you when I'm with your brothers. Makes me happy I see you every other holiday and stuff." He winked.

Zayn is one of the only people I see year-round. He's Louis and Jesse's best friend, so we hang out when we're both in town. We did regular things; a couple of heavy make out sessions, sneaking around, it was always a lot of fun. That was just our way of catching up. It started when he was my first kiss back when we were eight. We didn't talk about it until we were thirteen though. Most people talked over coffee, but Zayn and I liked making out in the dark, where if we heard any noises we would squeal and run away before we were caught. Throughout the year, we talked a little bit. It was just a couple of texts every few months, nothing major.

I laughed at him, remembering everything we did on those holidays. I hugged him again, still not getting over the fact that I was actually seeing him. Everything seemed to be falling back into place.

Zayn slung his arm around my shoulders. "Well, since this is the first time I've seen you in moths, like, can I take you out for coffee? Like, maybe we can catch up and stuff?" He wiggled his eyebrows seductively and pulled his mouth up into a sexy half-smirk.

I smiled at him and breathily laughed. "I really wish you had asked me five minutes ago. I actually just mad plans with a guy friend of mine. You can come along if you want." I offered.

He shook his head. "I'd rather not third wheel today."

"Raincheck?" I asked with hope in my eyes.

"'Course." He said, showing off his pearly whites. He leaned in to give me one last hug and a peck on the lips. "I'll text you later and we can do stuff." I nodded my head. He winked at me, and then turned around to walk back the way he had come. I just stood there and watched him go. I had no idea I would see Zayn at all during the summer.


	10. Chapter 10

**Tessa's POV**

I made my way towards the café, still shaken up by seeing Zayn. When I opened the door, all of the delicious smells wafted straight from the kitchen to me. It hit me as solid as a wall; the smell was just so strong. I went straight to the counter to order a caramel Frappuccino and a blueberry scone. I sat down at a table with my wonderful food and started to sip my coffee. It was as good as I remembered.

I basked in the peace and quiet of the restaurant, knowing it wouldn't last long. I waited a little bit and Noah walked through the door into the café. After he ordered something, he turned around, his eyes searching. I waved my hand and his eyes lit up when he saw me. He smiled as he walked towards me and took the seat across from me.

"Hey you," He said. Then, he looked at my Frappuccino. "You are such a white girl."

I scoffed. "Just because I drink coffee, I'm a white girl? What about men who drink coffee? And non-white people? Are they white girls, too?"

"Jeez, Tessa, I was just saying." He put his hands up in surrender.

One of the waitresses came over, baring a Frappuccino and a massive brownie. She slammed it down on the table clumsily and walked away with her hips swaying, smacking her gum and blowing bubbles with her cherry red lips. We both just stared at her. Then, I switched my glance to pointedly stare at Noah as he was sipping his coffee. I stuck out my tongue at him, and when he retaliated, we both burst into laughter.

"So, Tessa," Noah started the mostly civilized conversation. "You need to catch me up on the last three years."

I smiled at him. "It's a long story."

"I've got time."

"Fine." I conceded. "But you have to tell me about you first."

He sighed dramatically. "Not much to tell, really. I grew what must have been a foot, I started working out and building muscles. I got attractive." He winked. "A couple of parties, the usual. I start my last year of school in the fall. Applying early for UNI. That's pretty much it." He finished.

"Well, you sound like you had bundles of fun." I said sarcastically.

"Your turn, missy." He whined, pointing his finger at me.

Now it was my turn to sigh dramatically. I didn't know where to start. "Well, I graduated. I got into multiple universities but not NYU, my dream school. It's always been my dream, so I decided to try again. So I moved to New York with no plan other than to reapply the next year."

Noah gasped. "You, with no plan?"

I nodded my head grimly. "I know. It was very hectic. I found myself an apartment and a job working as an assistant to a major journalist at a magazine company. It paid well, so that was a perk. I reapplied to NYU and got in finally. I reorganized my schedule once I started school. So to recap, I moved to New York, found a job and an apartment, and finished my first year of UNI at NYU."

Noah reached across the table to place his hand across mine, in what I hoped was a _friendly_ gesture. I hadn't had a boyfriend in years, and now was not the time. Whilst I had talked, his face had changed between many emotions, but now it was just stuck on one: confusion.

"Tessa, you've told me about everything except your social life. Knowing you, you probably had so many friends and went to the coolest parties." He trailed off as I took on an expression of sadness and confusion with a hint of wistfulness. "Why? What's wrong? Did I say something?" He looked incredibly concerned.

I waved off his attempts at comfort. "I-I thought you knew." I was so confused. Why didn't he know? Someone must have told him. "I thought somebody told you. Why-I'm so confused." I shook my head in an attempt to clear it.

"What don't I know, Tessa?" He looked stricken, a look of panic clearly written across his face.

I knew I would have to explain that part of my story, yet again. He didn't need to know the reason of my long departure, so I omitted that part. I let out my breath, my shoulders slouching. "Noah, what you see now is a different side of me; a side it took years to perfect. You've only seen this good side of me. You haven't seen the loneliness, the bitterness, the tears. You've seen the laughter, the happiness, the smiles.

"During the part of the year I'm not here, I'm dark. I only have three friends in New York, literally. I don't do anything wild. I'm a boring prude. Not necessarily a prude but boring. I'm that nerd in the back of the classroom. I'm-I'm" Noah moved his chair to the side of me and pulled me into a side-hug when tears came to my eyes. I took a deep breath and continued.

"Here, on the coast of Malaga, I'm light. I'm free. I don't care what people think. I can do what I want with myself. I can be me. God, it sounds so cheesy and cliché. I'm the worst at telling stories. I sound like some damsel in distress." I buried my face into the shoulder of his tee-shirt and cried, ruining the dark grey material of his shirt. I pulled away and started rubbing at the stain and trying to make it go away, but it wouldn't come off.

He shrugged my hand away. "Tessa, it's okay." He used his thumb to brush away the tear tracks on my face. Then, he held his hands on the side of my face. "Theresa White, you are gorgeous. You are funny, smart, independent." Noah looked straight into my eyes and my breath caught in my throat. "You don't need anyone to approve of you. You light up the world like nobody else. You light up _my _world like nobody else." The next moment Noah was bringing my face up to his and crashing his lips against mine.

It took a second before the realization sunk in. I was kissing Noah, a guy I just recently reconnected with. Sure, he was somewhat attractive, but he was like my brother. I pulled away as soon as I could feel my tears streaming onto our lips. I gasped for breath, not realizing I had been holding it.

"No, I'm sorry, Noah, but I can't." I got up and ran from the café, leaving my coffee and blueberry scone. Noah called out for me, but I kept on running. I was too fast for him to catch and I had a head start. Soon, I was nearing the edge of town. I wasn't sure where I was going. All I knew was that I needed to get out. Telling that story had gotten my mind all out of whack. I ran harder and faster, tears still pouring down my face.

I could see it on the headlines:

_**HYSTERICAL TEENAGE GIRL LEAVES TOWN, KNOCKING DOWN EVERYTHING IN HER PATH**_

I ran until I reached the ocean and my feet gave out. There was a big rock that I climbed atop of. It was in the ocean and looked big enough to stay where it was, but every once in a while, waves would crash against it. I sat on top of the warm rock and cried out everything I was feeling. I screamed in rage. I punched the rock in fury.

After at least half an hour of my hysterics, I started to calm down. The sun was starting to set and I wrapped my arms around my legs and set my chin on my knees. I stared out into the ocean for God knows how long. I just thought about my past. This time, I welcomed the pain of the memories. The pain was intense, gut-wrenching. It took my breath away, literally. I reveled in being able to feel something so strongly, even if it was pain. For so long, I had felt numb. Like everything that had happened, happened to someone else and I had just stood watching. It didn't matter the feeling; anything was better than the feeling of numbness again.

I didn't know when I fell asleep, but I woke up awkwardly resting on the big rock. It had lost all traces of warmth long ago, and I was shivering in the cold. It was the middle of the night and the only light came from the moon reflecting off the water.

I started to panic. I had no idea where I was. I pulled out my phone and saw it had seven percent battery left. I called Liam, Cara, and Lola, but I didn't get an answer from any of them. Tears were prickling my eyes. I would have called Noah, but after the kiss… I ended up calling Louis, praying that he would pick up.

He ended up picking up when I called the second time, much to my relief. "Louis?!" I called out.

"Tessa, what is it?" He asked groggily, still half asleep.

"Louis, I'm lost! I have no idea where I am and my phone is about to die! I'm really scared and cold and I don't know what to do!" I cried to him. I broke into sobs as I waited for a reply. I heard shuffling through the phone.

"Tessa, please listen to me." His voice helped to calm me down. "I need you to tell me anything you can about your surroundings. I'm coming to get you. It's going to be alright." His calm manner soothed me.

I sniffled. "Well, I'm by the beach on a big rock." I looked around some more. "There isn't a path anywhere, but there are some trees about thirty yards away from the shore line. Louis, I'm really scared; the water is rising. Please hurry, I don't want to be alone right now." I heard a door slam.

"Tessa, I'm on the way, just-" I didn't get to hear what he was going to say because he was cut off by my phone dying.

"Dammit!" I screamed and cursed, throwing my phone as hard as I could onto the dry land. It didn't seem to break, which was lucky. The waves started to crash against the rock, splashing cold water and soaking my clothes. I was shivering, sad, scared, and cold. I couldn't get off the rock because the water level had risen. Plus, I wasn't able to see through the water. It would have been even more dangerous to try and swim in the water. I started to rock myself back and forth, trying to generate some sort of warmth. I was so cold I couldn't feel my feet. I curled into a ball, rocking back and forth for what seemed like hours. I don't know how long I waited, Louis found me eventually, but it wasn't soon enough.

I woke up to someone carrying me bridal style whilst they were wading through water. My head was pounding so hard it felt like someone was banging a pan against it. "Louis?" I called out, my voice scarcely more than a whisper.

"I'm right here, Tessa. I won't let you go." He said, lifting me higher, so I was more out of the water.

"I'm so cold." Louis hugged me closer when he heard my words. He was warm, but not warm enough for it to spread to me while walking through the ice-cold ocean.

"I was so worried. If you hadn't called or your phone had died." He shuddered but not from the cold. Finally, we reached the shore. Louis carried me to the car and pulled open the door to the back seat. He laid me down on one blanket and bundled me up in the other. He hopped into the driver's seat and put the keys into the ignition. He blasted the heater to warm the car, but it wasn't warm enough to stop my shivering; I was cold to the bone.

Louis turned on the radio to fill the silence. Softly playing was Piano Man by Billy Joel. It soothed my emotions, but my teeth were chattering louder than a chainsaw so I couldn't enjoy it much. Louis sang along to the song, filling the car with his angelic voice. Louis could have been famous for his voice, but he chose to play football instead. His voice was so unique that he would have made it far.

A few songs played along the way and, soon enough, Louis was carrying me out of the car and up the steps into the house. He silently opened the front door, and led me upstairs to the part of the house where the bedrooms were located. He was taking me to my bedroom when I placed my hands on his chest to stop him. He looked down at me to see what I wanted. I pointed towards his bedroom and he led me there instead. When I was a kid and had bad dreams, I always wanted to sleep in Louis' bed. He was always comforting and allowed me to. Louis laid me across his bed, still wrapped in the blanket, and changed before crawling in next to me.

I cuddled in closer to him, and he wrapped his arms around me in a caring way. It didn't feel like anyone else; Niall wrapped his arms around me in an "I couldn't care less" way, Liam in a friendly way, and Noah. Well, now I know what way Noah did. Right now, Louis was just a big brother comforting his little sister.

"Tessa?" Louis whispered.

"Yeah?' I whispered back, hating the weak sound in my voice.

"What happened?" He asked. I could hear the tears in his voice. I looked up to see he was crying. I reached up with a shaking hand to wipe his tears away. I understood what this must have looked like.

"Louis, it was nothing like last time. I promise. I got upset and ran, then I got lost. I'm really sorry I scared you like that." I knew how this situation had similarities to the one three years ago, but it wasn't like that at all. I scooted up so Louis and I were holding each other. I didn't know that what had happened three years ago had affected him like this.

After a while, Louis was back to his old self and held me again, just like when we were little. I fell asleep to him humming the tune of the song we heard in the car, Piano Man by Billy Joel.


	11. Chapter 11

**Tessa's POV**

When I woke up, it was dark. I couldn't see a thing, and I couldn't feel Louis next to me. I tried to move my arms, but they wouldn't budge. Something was restricting their movement. I was sore all over; there was a crick in my neck, and my head was pounding worse than if I had a hangover. The panic I had become accustomed to over the past couple of weeks began to settle in. Why couldn't I see anything? Why was I in pain?

Suddenly, I was back in the past.

_The whip cracked against my skin again. I had long ago lost the power to scream and to cry. That only seemed to further infuriate him. _

"_You bitch! I need to hear you!" He yelled, cracking the whip another time across the tender flesh of my body._

"_Please." My voice was so quiet and barely audible. _

_My vision was covered, so I couldn't see what he was doing. He had said it "heightened the experience." If that was up, then I wanted to go down. There was scuffling somewhere behind me, and then something slapped against the backs of my thighs. Since I was hanging by my wrists, the force of the bow caused me to slightly swing. _

"_This is called a paddle." He instructed, demonstrating its use yet again. "You need to become very familiar with it." He started hitting the paddle against me all over my body. So much for the body being a temple. My breasts and other female parts were covered by a thick strip of leather, but it still hurt when he hit them. He paid most of his attention on my breasts. He seemed to like the way I winced fiercely whenever they were hit. "You're so hot, tied up like that. The things I could do to you." He grabbed my chin with one of his hands and brought it up. I could only assume it was to his. I was so short that even being suspended above the floor, he was taller than me. He kissed me and took my bottom lip between his teeth. He sunk his teeth into my lip, bringing blood to the surface. He pulled back, then he licked the blood clean off my face. It was sick and disgusting. The next thing I knew, he slapped me across my face hard enough for my head to snap back. The slap was so hard; I could feel the bruises starting to form already._

"_Why the fuck did you shudder, you worthless piece of nothing! You are lucky that I decided to take this task upon myself and decided to do this for you! You deserve everything I do to you!" I didn't remember shuddering, but he was angry. I could only hear his harsh breathing. "Fine. You don't want to answer? I can do much more, darlin'." That time, I did shudder; a fact that did not go unnoticed by him. I could hear him moving around the room. _

_Suddenly, I was hoisted up higher. The chains holding me up were cutting into my wrists. Before, I could stand on the tips of my toes for some time to alleviate the pain, but now I couldn't reach the ground at all. "You are nothing, just a worthless piece of scum. I'm doing the world a favor by getting rid of you. No one will ever find you." The despair, which was worse than all of the physical pain, crashed in and I began to believe his words. _

"Tessa? Tessa, what's wrong?" I heard a familiar voice, but when a hand touched me, I flinched and screamed. I started thrashing and realized that I could move again. I reached for my face and ripped the mask off. Once my vision was returned and clear, I saw I was still in Louis' room. The person with the familiar voice had been Liam. He had backed away from the bed I was lying on with his hands up. When he saw that I had calmed down, he came and sat on the edge of the bed nearest to me.

When he moved his hand to scoot closer, I flinched away, and a look of extreme hurt washed over his face. Liam was one of the few who knew exactly what had happened. I had only told my family, him, Caralyn, and one of my three friends from New York. _I _was too afraid to tell anyone, but half the world already knew, just not anyone who knew me.

"Tessa?" Liam whispered. I could hear the pain laced through his voice. I knew Liam would never hurt me, but I had no control over it. I was still stuck in the mindset of the nightmare.

"Liam, I am so sorry. I swear, I didn't mean to." I tried to make it up to him by getting up from my seated position, even though it hurt like hell, and reached out for him. When he didn't respond, I crawled next to him and placed my arms around his neck. He finally responded when I nuzzled my face into his neck. "Liam, I'm sorry. I know you would never hurt me." I whispered into his neck.

He started to rub circles into my back, which helped to relieve my tense and overworked muscles. I was in so much pain just by sitting up. "Are you okay?" Liam asked.

Before I could respond, Louis, Jesse, and Caralyn came bursting into the room. When Jesse saw Liam had the situation under control, he went back to whatever he had been doing. Louis and Cara came into the room and took a seat, Cara on the bed and Louis on the desk.

"We heard a scream." Cara said as she took the seat next to Liam and I.

"Took you long enough." I scoffed as we rearranged ourselves and beckoned Lou over. We arranged ourselves into a diamond shape where we sat criss-cross applesauce. "It was nothing. I just got scared because I couldn't see anything and forgot where I was."

Louis nodded as if he decided my answer was acceptable enough for him. "Well, before you tell your story, you most definitely need to take a shower. You stink worse than my feet after football practice." He joked. "Plus, you need to get your head checked out." He was serious that time, which confused me. I didn't remember anything happening to my head.

"Wait, what's wrong with my head?" I asked in a panic. When I tried to get off the bed to see for myself, I tripped and fell to the floor. All three of them rushed to help me. They led me to the bedroom that conjoined Louis and Jesse's rooms. I looked in the mirror and slowly took in my horrendous appearance. I looked dreadful. My hair was a tangled mess, there was dried blood all down the side of my face that came from a deep gash, there were dark bags in the shape of crescents underneath my eyes, my skin was ghastly pale, and I looked half dead. No wonder Liam didn't respond when I tried to comfort him; he probably thought I was dead or a zombie.

Cara immediately understood what I was thinking just by seeing the look on my face. She reached behind me to turn on the water in the bath tub. "Okay, here's what's happening. I am going to help Tessa take a bath whilst you two are getting some medicine for her head and clothes for her to wear." Commander Cara took charge and ushered the boys out of the bathroom even though Liam complained.

"Come on! It's not like I haven't seen her naked before!" He brought me back to the memories of us dating when we were sixteen and losing my virginity to him. He just had to bring it up right after I had the nightmare. Louis dragged him out the door by his ear, grumbling about "sisters" and "sex." In any other situation, I would have laughed. The door was shut firmly behind them.

Being too weak to stand on my own for very long, I had taken a seat on the edge of the bathtub. Whilst the warm water filled the tub, Cara helped me to get undressed and sink into the water. I was covered in grim, cuts, dirt, and bruises. I was sickened just by looking at my terrible, abused body. The water helped a great deal. I could feel the dirt and grime rubbing off my skin. Cara reached over and poured some soap into the water, creating white, poufy bubbles. I felt like a little kid for the first time in years. I sank up to my neck in the water, and saw that the water had turned a light shade of brown. The bubbles helped to cover it, but it was still noticeable.

Cara grabbed a wash cloth and started gently rubbing the wound on my head. I wondered where and how I had gotten it. I winced when Cara accidentally pressed down to hard. "Sorry!" She whisper-yelled. Luckily, it hadn't broken open. Soon enough, I was mostly clean and Cara was helping me out of the bath, wrapping me in a fluffy, pink towel she had found. I used Cara's arm for support and we made our way back to Louis' room.

"Okay, everybody out!" Cara yelled, causing everyone to jump. Everyone was Louis and Liam, who had been talking animatedly about something. They shuffled their way out and Cara helped me to get dressed. I could tell Liam tried to pick the clothes, but Louis stopped some of it. They had chosen a striped tee-shirt that I hadn't worn since last year, a pair of gray joggers (Sweatpants), and Liam had definitely chosen my underwear. Louis had probably gotten grossed out by my collection that he gave Liam free reign. The black lace bra with matching panties that left almost nothing to the imagination were definitely something Liam would choose.

I finished dressing and collapsed on the bed as Cara let the boys back in. They all sat around me and I sat back up, leaning against the headboard. "So what happened?" Louis had to be the one to break the silence.

I sighed and closed my eyes whilst I started to tell my story. "I was at the café with Noah, then I overreacted and got upset over nothing. I ran away until I couldn't run anymore and got myself lost. Still upset, I climbed on top of this rock in the ocean and fell asleep. I woke up in the middle of the night and tried to call you two." Liam and Cara sheepishly stared at the floor. "Then, I call Lou and I don't really remember what happened after that."

Louis decided to take over. "When I got there, you were being tossed around in the water. You were unconscious so I went out and got you. I took you back to the house, and you wanted to sleep in my bed, so here you are." Louis' eyes had glazed over at the memory and it was scary how serious he was.

Then, a thought occurred to me. "What did you tell mom and dad?" I asked him.

He waved it off. "I told them you had a nightmare. No big deal!"

"Well that's not entirely untrue." I muttered. The only one who didn't freak out was Liam since he was there.

"What?!" Louis yelled, angry that I had kept this information from him. Caralyn was just as angry.

"It was nothing. Just a little nightmare." I said innocently.

"The question is, what was the nightmare about?" Cara raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow. My cheeks burned under all three of their scrutiny. Liam hadn't had a chance to find out the details of my nightmare, so he was suddenly all interested, too.

"Guys, it was nothing. Don't you guys get nightmares sometimes?" I flopped onto my back and shut my eyes again. I was so incredibly tired and felt really sick. "Where's my phone?" I asked abruptly.

Louis thought about it for a second, and then his face lit up when he remembered. "Oh, yeah!" He jumped off the bed and ran to his desk. He shuffled some stuff around before finding my phone under one of the various piles of clothing he had stacked up on the desk. "Here you go!" God, how was he so chipper? Thankfully, it only had one crack on the upper right hand corner from when I had thrown it.

I checked my phone and saw that I had three new messages from Liam, Cara, and Zayn. Liam and Cara were just trying to return my calls, so I checked Zayn's.

**Zayn 3:36- So like when do you want to catch up? Xx**

It was only sent about half an hour ago. My eyes bugged out at the time; it was four in the afternoon. I had missed work! "Woah! Why did you not get me up for work?"

Louis looked pointedly at me, as if it was a stupid question. "Oh, I called the scary boss lady when your alarm was off. I told her you were sick and she was fine with you staying home." I relaxed once I processed his words. I sent a text back to Zayn.

**Tessa 4:03- tonight? my place? 9? x**

**Zayn 4:04- Ill be there. Until tonight ;) Xx**

I turned my phone off and went back to the conversation in front of me. Liam and Cara were talking to Louis about when they should leave. "You guys can go right now if you want. I'm just going to sleep and get high off of pain killers." When I saw the look on their faces, I added, "I really appreciate what you guys are doing, but I think I'm good. Plus, I 've got my big bwother here to take care of me." I leaned into Louis' shoulder.

Liam decided I was right, and both he and Cara got up to leave. I got up, even though it was very painful, and hugged them both. "Thank you guys so much." I whispered into their ears.

"You better text us later!" Cara threatened as she went out the door. I smiled and laughed, and watched my two best friends get into Liam's car and drive away together.


	12. Chapter 12

**Tessa's POV**

"Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up!" Someone screamed as they bounced on the bed, waking me.

"Go away," I muttered into the pillow, still too tired to do anything about whichever monkey was jumping on the bed this time.

"Come on! You gotta get up! I haven't seen my best friend in over twenty four hours!" So Niall was the misfit disturbing my sleep. I rolled over onto my side and checked the time; it was six in the evening.

"It is six in the evening and I was enjoying a peaceful slumber, but now I am up and unhappy." I grouched, "Shut up."

Niall looked at me with his adorable puppy dog face. "Aww, you are just too cute." He poked my nose, so I reached out to bite it. "Bad girl." He tapped my head in a corrective manner.

I scrunched up my nose at him. "Why are you here?"

He feigned an expression of hurt. "Does milady not want her best friend of five days to be with her?"

"Not if he doesn't let her sleep in." I retorted.

"Someone is a little grumpy after getting woken from their nap." He teased. I slapped a pillow across my face, momentarily forgetting about my head wound.

I grimaced in pain and called out "Go away!" but my words were muffled by the pillow.

"Nope. It's best friend time." He pulled away the pillow. I saw him smile mischievously and briefly wondered what he was up to when the blanked was suddenly yanked from my grasp, exposing my body to the cool air.

"It's too cold!" I moaned and reached for the blanket. He tantalizingly pulled the blanket farther from me when I got close to it.

"Tut tut! You have to get up sleepyhead. We have less than three hours until your date." He wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

"I think I would know. That's why I was planning on sleeping for another hour." I glared at him.

"We have done something together every day except for today. We can't break tradition!" He pouted and jutted out his bottom lip in a cute, childish way. Without a doubt, he looked adorable.

"Fine. You have two hours." I said, reluctantly sitting up. I was so tired, but I owed it to Niall; he did take complete care of me whilst I was sick. I was still in sweatpants and a tee-shirt, so I deemed myself worthy of going to do whatever Niall wanted to do. Then, a thought came to me. "Wait. First of all, I don't have a date. A friend of mine is just coming over, so we can catch up and stuff."

He snorted. "Yeah and Sailor is just my _friend_." He had to bring up that she-devil.

A dark look crossed my face as I chose to ignore that last remark. "Second, how did you know about that?"

He sent me a look as if it should have been obvious. "Well, I am practically dating your brother." He said, reminding me of the incident in the kitchen yesterday. I laughed out loud.

"Okay, now what are we going to do today?" I asked, suddenly feeling awake.

He licked his bottom lip as he thought about it. "We are going to make dinner."

"How could you have possibly started a fire?!" Niall shouted not in anger but with exasperation and a touch of incredulity. "I left you alone for less than five minutes _chopping vegetables_. The stove wasn't even on!"

I sheepishly looked down at the floor. The fire extinguisher can was still in my hands. "I don't know what happened." I mumbled. "I just put them in a pot to boil and turned the stove on. Then, I turned around to get the water, and it burst into flames."" I cried out, waving around the fire extinguisher precariously.

"Okay, okay." He gently took the can out of my hands. Once he made sure we weren't in harm's way, he burst into laughter. He full-on cackled. I was so confused. Why was he laughing when I almost burnt down my house? "How could you have possibly set the stove on fire whilst cooking vegetables? How could you have forgotten the water?" He said between breaths of laughter. At first, I was shocked that he could be taking this so casually. Then, his infectious laughter got to me. Soon we were both on the floor, rolling around and crying tears of laughter. I didn't even know why we were laughing. I had completely forgotten. Maybe I didn't even know why in the first place.

The whole situation was crazy and messed up. Once we were both calmed down, I was mind blown. "What are we even doing?" I asked, turning to face Niall. Niall just shook his head and broke down into more fits of laughter. I looked around at the mess we-I had made of the kitchen. It was a total wreck. It would take forever to clean.

At that moment, the doorbell rang. I ran to go and get it, momentarily forgetting how drastic I looked. I opened the door only to shut it again. It was Zayn and he was early and I was a mess. I was something no one should ever have to look upon. If I usually looked anything like Cinderella, now I looked like the before picture.

"Oh my God!" I screamed to no one in particular, but Niall heard it.

"Who was at the door?" He asked as I ran up the stairs to make myself look presentable.

"It's Zayn! And he saw me!" I yelled.

"So? Who cares? Let him in!"

"Oh my god, you're such a guy! Have you seen what I look like?" He chuckled loud enough that I could hear him from upstairs. I tuned him out and started changing my clothes. I tore off my now-ruined shirt and my joggers. I stood in my walk-in closet for a few rushed seconds before deciding on clack shorts with a crème sweater since it was cooler at night. I ran to the bathroom and, knowing I didn't have a lot of time, splashed water on my face. I put a little mascara on and then some lip gloss before tackling the beast that was my hair. It was nearly impossible to brush through. I had to, literally, yank the brush to make it go through. I bet I pulled out half of my hair before the brush was able to fall through easily. I styled it so that it covered the gash on the side of my head; that was something I didn't want to have to explain again.

I looked in the mirror one last time. I looked terrible but better than before. Then I realized: I had left Zayn. Outside. Alone. As in, I shut the door in his face. "Shit!"" I called out, leaving my bedroom and running down the stairs. I whirled around to the front door, but stopped when I saw the living room. I traced back a couple of steps only to see the weirdest thing I had seen in a while. Zayn and Niall were both sitting stiffly on the two couches, their eyes glued to the telly. Zayn was sitting on the couch facing the telly whilst Niall was on the couch facing the doorway to the entryway, where I was standing. Luckily, their heads were turned towards the screen and they were watching some football fame. It gave me a few moments to decide where to sit. I could sit by Niall, my best friend, or Zayn, my so-called date. It was definitely not a date. Couldn't a guy and a girl be friends? Granted, Zayn and I were more than friends but still, Niall and I are just friends.

I decided on the big, comfy chair in the corner. It was a safe choice. Plus, I wouldn't have to choose between them. I was way too indecisive for that.

When I came into the room and plopped into the chair, I felt two pairs of eyes on me: Zayn and Niall's. I saw their heads snap back to their original positions when I turned to look. I saw the hint of a blush appear in both of their cheeks as they continued to watch the football game.

"So what are we watching?" I asked them, trying to relieve some of the tension that was rapidly filling the room. Zayn looked at me as if to say, _Are you stupid? Turn your head forty five degrees to the right and you can figure it out._

Niall, having not known me for very long, answered politely. "Well, we're watching football, but we can change it. If you want, that is." I shot him a grateful smile but shook my head. He didn't know my pathetic secret. Well, he didn't know _this_ pathetic secret, just like everyone else. This got officially more awkward. My entire life is one big puddle of awkward.

Unfortunately, my stomach decided to grumble rather loudly. Both Zayn and Niall turned to look for the source of the noise. When Niall saw me blushing, he immediately understood and choked up with laughter. He hadn't eaten yet either. Zayn looked between Niall's laughter and my blushing with confusion. "That," Niall searched for the right word, "noise," seemed to be the best he could do. Very articulate. "was her stomach." He burst into renewed laughter. Zayn seemed to get it because he lightly chuckled. Great, the only thing that seemed to break the ice was my embarrassment.

"Hey! I'm hungry and so is my stomach. We haven't eaten all day! I was planning on eating dinner with Niall, but he saw how great that turned out." I defended myself.

"Hey, it isn't my fault that you can't cook." Niall said, reminding me of that trivial fact yet again.

"You let her cook?" Zayn asked him disbelievingly.

"Well, I wasn't expecting her to burn the entire house down."

Zayn gave him a look as if it was supposed to be obvious. "Dude, she has a history with cuisine."

"Really?"

"Yeah-"

I interrupted Zayn. "As much as I love being the source of everyone's jokes, I'd rather not go into my mistakes with food."

"No, really. I'd like-Aah!" Niall squealed like a little girl which caused Zayn and I to jump. "Spider!" He screamed in terror. I sighed and got up from the couch. Niall jumped on top of his couch whilst pointing at the terror inducing creature. Even Zayn looked slightly frightened; his eyes were wide and he had pulled his legs up to his chest, so his feet weren't touching the ground. I grabbed someone's shoe from the entryway and walked over to where Niall was pointing and shrieking like the five year old he was. I smashed the tiny black, eight-legged insect underneath the sneaker.

Once they were sure it was dead, Niall hopped down from the couch and Zayn let his feet slide back to the floor. "My hero!" Niall wrapped his arms around my neck and hung on.

"Niall, it was a miniscule spider. No big deal." I tried to remove his arms, but he clung tighter.

"No big deal? You just killed Satan's spawn! We" He removed his arms from me only to pull Zayn up off the couch. "will forever be in your debt." Zayn looked uncomfortable with Niall's arm shrugged on his shoulders, but he nodded his head in agreement.

An idea came to me. "Well, you can start paying it off by cooking me dinner since I'm so disastrous at it." They both snickered at my jab and agreed to my terms.

"I'll cook!" Niall volunteered. He skipped-literally-into the kitchen and we could hear him clearing up some of the wreck I had made.

As I sat down on the couch nearest to me, I wondered what he was making. Hopefully, something edible. I turned to watch the game and didn't notice when Zayn sat down next to me. I was startled when I felt the familiar pressure of his arm across my shoulders. After getting over the initial shock of it, I shifted closer to him. We watched the game together as Niall cooked, cheering when our team scored a goal and so on and so forth. I ended up totally forgetting about my hunger and that Niall was in my kitchen cooking. Zayn seemed to forget too because when our team won, he smacked his lips on mine. We got caught in the moment. It got steamy quickly. We had both been burning to do this all night, or at least I was. He sat down on the couch behind him, pulling me along so I was straddling his lap, one knee by each of his hips. The telly was long forgotten as it turned into a heavy make out session.

He licked my bottom lip, asking-no, demanding-entrance. I was obedient and willingly gave him whatever he wanted. His tongue explored my mouth and the feeling of it. It was like he was getting reacquainted with it. I decided I wanted a taste of him too and our tongues struggled for dominance. In the end, he gave up and granted me control. I swirled my tongue around, tasting the familiar taste of cigarettes mixed with mint. I had gotten used to the taste and now enjoyed it. Zayn pulled me closer, deepening the kiss and pacing one hand in my hair whilst tangling the other in my hair. I let my hands fall from the side of his face and slide farther backward to where his hair met his neck and knotted my fingers in the tails.

Right then, we heard a loud clang and a "Shit!" so we jumped apart. Both of us were out of breath. "It's fine! I'm okay, but thanks for asking!" Niall called from wherever he was. Zayn ignored him whilst I suppressed a smile. We leaned in to pick up where we left off but my stomach growled, ruining the moment. _Really?_ I asked in my head of course. It was just my luck, too.

"Seems like the universe really doesn't want this to happen." Zayn said seriously but with a smile in his voice.

"Screw the universe." I breathed, leaning in again. I craved the rush I had been feeling.

Our lips had barely brushed before we were interrupted again. "Dinner is served!" Niall announced as he walked into the room, brandishing something he held in a pot. Zayn and I tried to spring apart, but it failed. We ended up making it worse by falling on the floor and tangling ourselves together. "Oh my God! My eyes! Why not keep it PG-13 outside of the bedroom?" Niall cried and tried to cover his eyes but couldn't since he was holding the pot. In the end, he left the room altogether. I started laughing and, in my position on top of him, I could feel Zayn laugh, too. This was definitely not how I planned tonight would go. I got up off of him and we both followed Niall to wherever he went.

We walked into the kitchen and Zayn let out a low whistle. "With a tornado came and I missed it, or you were cooking. I'm going to go with the latter based on the information from earlier."

"Oh shut up." I dragged him into the dining room where we found Niall with a massive plate of macaroni and cheese, one of my favorite foods ever. There was still a lot left in the pot, thankfully, He was shoveling it all in, very much like the first time I saw him eat. I sat down across from him and Zayn sat at the head of the table between us. I grabbed a plate and scooped some noodles onto it.

Once I was done, Zayn did the same. He must have been hungry, too, since he got almost as much as Niall. Maybe it was just a boy thing. We sat eating in the quiet until I heard the front door open and close. "Who is it?" I yelled. I could hear whoever it was walk into the kitchen and stop.

"Oh my God, what happened in here?" Jesse's voice rang through the house.

"Tessa, did you try cooking again?" Louis taunted.

"Actually, I had a supervisor this time." I retorted. I couldn't even see them and they were getting on my nerves.

"Really? Then how did they let you ruin our kitchen again? Mom is so going to freak." Niall's cheeks reddened at Jesse's last comment.

"I never said that the supervisor was actually supervising." I heard them shuffling through the kitchen and trying to make their way through the mess. I didn't know why it was taking them so long; most of the wreckage was near the stove and it wasn't as bad as it could have been. "Plus, this is the first time I've eaten in, like, over twenty four hours, so I've had other priorities.

At the mention of food, both the lads popped through the door. "FOOD!" They both raced to the pot of pasta before Louis realized I had company. "Yo, Zayn. Good to see you again, mate. You too, Niall." He gave them both that half a hug, man thing. Jesse, too busy with the food to care, nodded at each of them and sat down before eating his food in a Niall-like manner. You could also say he was inhaling it like it was much needed air. I wondered who, Niall or Jesse, would win in a food contest. Louis served himself in a good fashion and we all sat there eating.

Louis and Jesse started telling Zayn and Niall about this raging party they went to last week. It was obvious that I wasn't included in the counversation. Once I finished, I got up to bring my plate in and everyone seemed to think that I was going to take theirs in, too. So I was loaded down with dirty dishes and sent from the room. Since I wasn't included in the cocnversation, I decided to work on clearing up the kitchen. Jesse was right for once; mom would have a fit if she came home right now.

First, I loaded all of the dishes into the dishwasher and ran it. Then, I tackled the stovetop with baking soda, water, and towels. It seemed to take forever, but finally all of the black burns were starting to rub off. I was so focused on scrubbing that I didn't notice when someone else came into the room.

"Woah, it's looking better already." My head whipped around to see who it was.

"Oh, it's you."

"No need to sound so disappointed." He said offstandishly.

"No, sorry. I'm just working in here seeing as how I'm not wanted in there." I tried to apologize but there was an edge in my voice. He came over and picked up one of the rags I had been using; he started to get rid of some of the stains on the floor. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm doing what best friends do."

"No way." Niall said.

I nodded my head. "It's true. I figured out that I could do it in the summer of fifth grade. Just ask Liam."

"How?" He looked at me with a mixture of awe and wonder.

I sipped my Coca Cola before answering. "Well, I was at this party, and we were playing truth or dare, as always. These truths and dares were childish, mind you." I told him, noticing the slight smirk on his face as he was about to say something. "They were like, 'Who is your crush?' and 'Eat this gross thing'. So I decided to take dare."

"No surprise there." He interrupted. I shot him a quick glare before continuing.

"I was dared to belch the alphabet, so I took a swig of some fizzy soda and proceeded to do it. Everyone was in awe of my skills, even Jesse and Louis." I finished.

"Well, color me impressed, but I still don't entirely believe you." He winked. "I think I might need a demonstration."

Seeing this coming, I had been drinking plenty of soda. I could belch on command, but it was much easier to do when I drank something carbonated. When I actually did it, Niall was awestruck with wonder. "How – Why – What…" He trailed off and started again. "Teach me?"

His eyes were pleading. "No can do, mister." I shook my head. "I don't know how to teach it. It just comes naturally." He stuck his tongue out at me in disappointment, so I stuck mine out right back. "Just be glad you got to witness my skills." I flipped my hair off my shoulder.

He grumbled something that I couldn't understand, just the usual. I shrugged it off by smiling and drinking my soda.

"Tessa, I want-" Niall was cut short by the other three boys coming into the kitchen.

"Wow, it looks a lot better in here." Louis commented. "It looks _too_ good. Where's the cleaning lady?"

I scoffed. "Psht. Niall and I are pretty good workers. We did it ourselves." Niall confirmed me by nodding his head. This would have been the ideal moment for a cleaning lady to walk in and ask for her check or something, but Niall and I actually did it ourselves.

"Well, mates, now that that's been cleared up, I better get going. It's gettin' pretty late." Zayn said, making his way towards the door. Niall and I got up from our seated position, and we all followed him to the front door. He grabbed his leather jacket from the hall closet. I hadn't even known he'd brought a jacket. I didn't think it was cold enough, but it's Zayn. Who knew?

"Aww, Zaynie, we're gonna miss you!" Louis put on his best impression of my voice to tease me and shoved me towards Zayn. I stumbled, and Zayn caught me before my face got reunited with the floor. Since it wouldn't have been the first time, I knew it wasn't the best feeling in the world.

Zayn had grabbed me by placing one hand on my elbow and wrapping the other around my waist to support. For some reason, it made me feel really comfortable. "You okay?" He huskily whispered in my ear. I don't know if he meant it to be that way, but it sent shivers all the way down my spine. When I nodded back, he let go of me, and I immediately missed the warmth and comfort of his large hands. Soon after though, the warmth and comfort was replaced when he wrapped me in a bear hug and quickly pecked me on the lips. He waved bye to my brothers and Niall before heading out into the night. He shut the door quickly, before any of the cool night air got in. I made sure he had gotten in his car and drove away safely whilst the boys went down into the basement.

Once I was sure Zayn was okay, I followed them. They had started to play Fifa without me, but that wasn't what I was upset about. Niall had stolen my hammock chair. I was going to let him have it, but Louis and Jesse were taking up the couch, so I couldn't sit there. That only left the rickety old armchair that we'd had for ages.

Since Niall was in my chair and I didn't want to make a scene, I decided to sit on him. When I sat down, he freaked. "Oi! I'm tryin' to play a game 'ere, woman!" His accent was more prominent when he was upset. He tried to push me off and play his game at the same time, but it didn't seem to be working. In all the commotion, Louis and Jesse, who were on a team, scored a goal against Niall, who was playing by himself. They both snickered as he almost lost his patience with me. "Tessa, geroff me! I need to beat your brothers' asses!" He pushed _my_ ass, but I wasn't budging.

"As much as I love watching somebody's ass getting beat, especially my brothers', you're in my seat." I smiled brightly at him.

Even Louis and Jesse were taking my side. "She's right. It is her seat. Da bought it for her when she was just a wee little girl. She usually freaks when Jesse and I sit in it." Louis, the only brother to do so, defended me.

Niall looked between us three helplessly. The game lay untouched but not forgotten. Niall's face brightened. "How about I play ya for it, ye?" He asked.

You don't want to do that." Jesse cut in.

"What're we playing?" I ignored him, hoping he would shut up on his own or Louis would get the memo.

He snorted. "Fifa, obviously."

"Okay." He looked shocked that I had agreed so quickly.

"Don't worry," He tried to reassure me. "I'll go easy on you."

"If that's what you want." I made sure I never asked or told him to play easy on me. This was about to be hilarious; at least for me, it would be.

Niall saved their game before setting up our own. I reached for the controller Louis held and chose Manchester City whilst Niall chose one of the Ireland teams. "Man City, eh?" He asked, to which I nodded. "Not the usual choice."

"Would you rather I pick something else?"

He shook his head. "Nah, doesn't matter."

We started the game shortly after that. I was kicking off, so I started down the field. I could tell he was holding back, so I decided to as well. I passed it to the other striker who was up with me. Since it was the worst move I could have possibly done, considering I had no one on me, he stole it easily. "Aww, crap, how did that happen?" I pretended to be frustrated. He sent me a weak smile, but I could tell that he was happy I was terrible. Louis and Jesse were eating it up like it was cable TV. I let Niall score a goal before I stepped up my game. It took him long enough, too. When I got the ball I too it down the field quickly. Niall seemed to sense the shift in mood, but he was too late. He was too far spread out to catch my quick striker. I made it past his goalie and shot an easy goal from ten feet away.

It went in and Niall cursed. "Da fuck was that, Theresa?" I shot him a glare for using my full name. Then, I smiled innocently and shrugged my shoulders. We were both tied now. The game went on where I would let him score and then retaliate. Every little bit, I would spice it up a bit by scoring a cherry-picked goal or one that would actually count to put me in the lead. Niall got very frustrated with me and cursed me out. I giggled, suspecting he was just upset because his male pride was wounded. He thought he was playing easy on me, but in reality it was the other way around. I could've crushed him into oblitherines, but what kind of friend would have done that? I was perfectly okay with beating him by a point or two.

That's exactly what I did. He went into deNiall (denial) when he lost. He pulled his knees up into his chest and started rocking back and forth on the floor. "No, this is just a dream. I did not just get beat by a-a girl!" He cried as if it was the worst thing in the world. I crawled over to my hammock chair and got in it, relishing in the victory.

Louis and Jesse were shaking their fists and chanting, "Niall got beat by a girl!" over and over again.

Niall suddenly turned to them. "How could you not tell me she was a pro?" He accused.

Jesse raised his hands above his head. "He, mate, I tried to."

Louis smirked. "She has us for brothers. Plus, I thought it would be funny." Then they repeated the chant more, dancing around in a little circle. Louis decided to put a picture of Niall's defeat on Twitter. Louis and Jesse both played football for a club back in England, so the picture got thousands of likes, retweets, and comments within minutes. With our father being one of the leading CEOs in the entire UK and having multiple connections all over the world, it had been relatively easy for Jesse and Louis to get on a good football team. Don't get me wrong, my triplets had skills, but they always seemed to take our father's position for granted. I, on the other hand, never used him for anything. I could've gotten into NYU in a heartbeat if I had used his name, but I chose to work for it. I even went as far as to use my mother's maiden name, White, instead of his, Tomlinson. I didn't even like the guy. Why the hell would I take his last name as my own or use him to get special treatment. I was already sort of famous on my own in an innocent kind of way. I worked for Seventeen Magazine, I was the daughter of world-class CEO and a five-star chef, and my brothers played for an English club football team. I was bound to have a couple of people know my name. I did a little bit of traveling sometimes for Seventeen and interviewed some famous people. In a lot of places, people knew my name and face. Sometimes, even celebrities knew my name. It was very humbling. I worked hard and I was proud of myself.

One of the only reasons Louis and Jesse were so famous was because people thought they were fit. Like, how gross could people get? I remember when I saw a fan fiction of Louis and Jesse. I was even in it. It was an entire novel. It was disgusting though. Filled with heterosexual sex, homosexual sex, incest, and everything in between, I was disgusted by the time I ended the first chapter. **(AN: Yes, I am making fun of myself. Except for the homosexual sex and incest part, that is. Hehe)** I can't believe people wrote that. Wasn't watching porn on your computer enough? Did you really have to write it, too? I guess people gotta do what they gotta do.

By the time I came back to reality, Niall had gotten over himself and had moved to lean against the couch whilst he sat. Louis had placed his knees on either side of Niall's head and body and kept nudging him with a foot during the game they had started playing. They had an adorable budding bromance. "Louis, can I see your phone?"

"Why?" He was immediately suspicious.

"I need to see something on Twitter." _More like post something_, my subconscious chastised me. He wasn't even really paying attention. He motioned his head in the direction of it lying on the miniature table next to the couch. I grabbed it and went back to my swing. I took a quick look at the photo Louis had posted not so long ago. It was of Niall shaking on the floor whilst I was sitting on my swing and laughing. He had captioned it, **that moment when your bestfriends sister beats you at Fifa. Sucks NiallOfficial** The picture was so cute I took a screen shot of it and sent it to myself.

I then captured a photo right as Lou kicked Niall's side gently. Louis had a devilish smirk on his face and Niall's was one of pure shock, his mouth was wide open. It was, in all honesty, a beautiful picture. I captioned it, **Budding Bromances #Nouis xoxo –H NiallOfficial** I posted it, and Louis' fan base exploded. I strolled through the comments already posted in less than a minute. It was weird seeing how many people actually though Nouis was real. One girl said that Nouis was now her OTP. I laughed out loud at that and the boys gave me strange looks. I blushed and went back to scrolling through Louis' phone. I decided to check out a couple of people's profiles. One I checked out, Louis_stolemysuspenders, was basically a shrine to Louis' entire existence. She even had pictures of my mom's massive tummy filled with the three of us and pictures all throughout Louis' existence. How did people even get those? I decided to make the girl's day and have Louis follow her. Literally two seconds later, she tweeted: **OMG LOUIS JUST FOLLOWED ME! I LOVE YOU! Louis_Tomlinson** I breathily chuckled and favorited the tweet. What she doesn't know won't hurt her. I left Twitter and turned off the phone before I gave her a heart attack. She was probably a twelve year-old girl, so it would be understandable but I'd rather not have that in my guilty conscience. It was probably her life's goal for Louis to follow her, or at least her Twitter's. So I was actually helping her. I tossed Louis his phone back, but I ended up missing and Niall got a mouthful of iPhone 5. I bet it tasted delicious.

"Oi!" He shouted, hurt and surprised. Then he shook it off, his eyes having never left the screen. All three of them were intently focused on the game. It was he hundred and eighteenth minute and somebody had to score within two minutes or they would be shooting penalty kicks. Neither of the teams could score a goal though. No one could score a penalty kick either, or when someone would score one the other team would score, too. Figuring this would go on for a while, I went up to the kitchen to get food.

I stood in the pantry for a minute, listening to the sound of their groans and cheers and trying to decide what to eat. I finally settled on chocolate chip cookies and lemonade. I sat at the kitchen island and was on my last cookie when my mom and dad walked through the back door. My mom was laughing hard at something my dad said.

"Oh, hi sweetie." My mom noticed me sitting in the kitchen. "Where are the boys?"

"They're downstairs with Niall playing Fifa." I told her with my mouth full. She usually didn't care.

"You swallow your food and respect your mother right now, young lady." My dad sternly told me and pointed his finger at me to emphasize his point. I just met his glare, downed the last bit of my lemonade, and walked back down to the basement.

I heard my mom in the background. "Really? Did you have to do that?" I smirked, knowing she was on my side.

"YES!" I heard Louis and Jesse scream entirely too loudly. I rushed down the stairs only to find Jesse and Louis jumping up and down on the couch, Niall on the floor rocking and crying again, and the telly saying that Jesse and Lou had won.

"Aww, you poor baby." I said, walking over and crouching down next to Niall. "You just can't win against us, can you?" I petted his hair soothingly.

"Mmm," Niall moaned. Louis and Jesse went upstairs muttering something about food. Niall perked up at that specific mention. "Food?" His eyes went wide as he moved to follow them.

"Niall!" I called out as he got up.

"What?" He asked annoyed that I wouldn't let him go eat us dry.

I pulled a pack of Girl Scout cookies out of my back pocket. I had been hiding them from my triplets. Niall's eyes nearly bugged out of his face went he saw them. He literally jumped me as he tried to get them from me. Apparently I wasn't fast enough for him. Note to self, never get in the way of Niall and his food. He immediately ripped open the box and shoved multiple into his mouth at once. He groaned in pleasure at the taste.

Once he was finished, which was very quickly, he collapsed on the couch I had sat down on. "Okay, I've been dying to ask you this all night. What's up with you and Zayn? And don't say you're just friends, that's bullshit." He added.

I swallowed. "Nothing really. He's a really great kisser, but that about sums it up. Plus, have you seen those cheekbones?"

"Oh my God, I did not need that mental image!" He covered his eyes as if that would cover his imagination.

"Hey, you asked." I defended myself.

"I know, I know." We fell into a comfortable silence, listening to the sound of people making their way across the floor upstairs. "Hey, I think I gotta go. Don't want mum to worry or anything." I looked at the clock and was surprised to see it was half twelve.

"Oh yeah, you probably should. But come around tomorrow, 'kay?" He nodded as we stood up. We both walked up the stairs and into the kitchen where the back door was.

"Bye, Tessa." He said, turning around and wrapping me in a hug. "I will so beat you next time." He whispered in my ear.

I chuckled in reply. "Get out of here, Ni. You couldn't beat me if you tried." He threw me the bird as he shut the door behind him. I laughed out loud at how great our relationship was. From serious to silly in less than five minutes.


End file.
